As the polls near, almost every cop in the city is sweating out as the Election Commission, under whose control the police function now, have mandated them to spend additional hours for vehicle checking to prevent the use of money power in elections.
However, on a lighter note, the cops have had many strange experiences on the job that has helped beat the monotony...
Take for instance how a cop found out that people even use tiffin boxes as a safe means to transport jewels, and avoid the attention of thieves. The sub-inspector who came across this ‘tiffin safe’ was on a routine vehicle check when he stopped a motorcyclist. The SI recalls, “I was readily showed a driving license and other documents. But the rider was anxious and trying to hide something. When I checked the side box, there was a tiffin box in it. When I asked him to open it, much to our amusement, it was full of gold jewels.”
The jewels were initially seized. Later, inquiries revealed that the motorcyclist was only carrying the jewels home after taking it from a bank locker. He had used the tiffin box only hoping that it would hoodwink any thieves in passing.
In another incident, a flying squad team was puzzled when they found out that a truck they stopped in the city’s outskirts was carrying a load full of coins. Later the truck was found belong to a bank, and was released.
There are other instances wherein police officers come across strange people who are politicians, lawyers, journalists and human rights activists, all at the same time. “We stopped a van on suspicion as it had both a press and a lawyer sticker. When we said we wanted to check the van, the person refused to permit us and was adamant saying he was a journalist. When asked for his ID card, he produced nearly four. One said he was a lawyer, in another he was president of a human rights group. And in yet another, he was a functionary of a political party,” said a police officer.
Perhaps the most hilarious incident was when a police inspector found out that sometimes people use swanky cars to transport a goat! The inspector in charge, was on a routine vehicle check, and was shocked when he found a goat inside a Maruti Swift. “The family was proceeding to their kula theivam temple in Villupuram district and they (as recommended by an astrologer) had groomed a goat in their house and were taking it to the temple. Since the goat cannot be taken separately, they were taking it along with them in the car and used the seat belt and another rope to tie it to the seat,” said the inspector.