Can Ramji Nagar clean its stain?

Their main technique while targeting the gullible victims is ‘attention diversion’. The trend in the ‘robbers colony’ is the new methods adopted for ‘attention diversion’ and it has triggered a competition among various groups operating from there. 

They form gangs among themselves while setting out on a mission and the leader is called ‘captain’. The captain’s key responsibility will be to meet the expenses of the entire gang. Their profession is well organised as they follow a set of rules in sharing the booty and it goes like this - they give 20 per cent of valuables or cash to the captain (10 per cent for expenses and 10 for captain’s job), 10 per cent as incentive for the person who completed the assignment and the remaining 70 percent would be shared equally by all the gang members, including the captain. 

A few other principles that they follow are that the target should be outside TN and always adopt only attention diversion tactics. Never strike a house where the inmates speak in Tamil. Always use only code words during conversations. 

The residents of Ramji Nagar belong to a particular community from Andhra Pradesh, who migrated during the pre-Independence era and settled in Thogamalai in Karur, the then combined Tiruchy district. In Tiruchy, they are called ‘kepmari’, but there is no clear explanation or proof of how they got the name. 

But, in those days, they were ex-communicated in most places by the village heads after repeated complaints of theft against them.

Later, in order to rehabilitate the habitual offenders, the then district administration created a settlement for them near Ramji Moolji Cotton Mill in 1936 in Tiruchy (the present Ramji Nagar) and offered them with jobs. However, a section continued to involve in stealing and gradually started to try their hands in other states. Now there are over 1500 families with at least two in a family sticking to the ‘ancestral profession’.

These gangs also have strong beliefs in divine grace to achieve success in their assignments. Before going for stealing, the thieves perform special puja in which all their family members participate and offer prasadam (non-veg items) to the deity. Later, the group members alone would take the prasadam.

As per practice, they select an auspicious day for the puja and perform them from the morning on the day they plan to go on the ‘job’. They are sensitive to ill omens like sneezing, drizzling, noise of lizard, seeing widows and snakes. When they meet with such experiences, they will postpone their plan. Before starting from their house, they ask their wives to face them wearing flowers, kumkum and to be nicely dressed. They also do a parikar (sacrifice) prior to their travel. Similarly, they check the ‘panchangam’ (almanac), to check if the direction they are moving is trouble-free.