THOOTHUKUDI: Thoothukudi SP L Balaji Saravanan took stock of the situation at Tiruchendur ahead of the Thaipoosam festival at Tiruchendur Murugan temple, the second abode of the Tamil god Lord Murugan.
Thaipoosam, which is celebrated on the full moon day on February 5. Several hundred devotees from across the state reached Tiruchendur on bare feet, carrying kavadi and piercing spears among others. A majority of devotees arrived from Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Kanyakumari, and Virudhunagar districts to worship the deity on the occasion.
In view of the celebrations, the police have beefed up security across Tiruchendur town with a police deployment of over 600 personnel headed by SP, two Additional Superintendents of Police, and 13 inspectors.
The police have warned devotees from donning caste-related attire and sarpa kavadi during the Thaipoosam event. Meanwhile, following complaints of chain snatching on the temple premises, a special team of police analysed the CCTV footage and zeroed in on two women suspects P Ramalakshmi alias Petchiammal (60) and S Kalyani alias Kala (49). The police managed to seize over `1.70 lakh worth of gold jewels from them.
While Pechiammal has over 17 robbery cases pending against herself at various police stations, Kalyani has over 13 cases.