Paranoid police give cars a flat

COIMBATORE: Several residents of Edayarpalayam in suburban Coimbatore were in for a rude shock on Thursday when they found their car tyres deflated, apparently by policemen who were irked over complaints of vehicle thefts in the locality.Residents claimed that the tyres of nearly 100 cars parked on different streets in Lakshmi Nagar, Anna Nagar, TVS Nagar and Gandhi Nagar were punctured overnight.Office-goers were stranded as they noticed that the tyres were punctured only when they turned on the ignition keys. “Before we could realise that it was an act of sabotage, we learnt that several cars had a flat tyre. Then a local security guard told us that beat constables had punctured the tyres of the cars,” S Gnanasekaran of Lakshmi Nagar said. Enraged residents held a meeting and threatened to stage a demonstration if action was not taken against the erring policemen.  It is learnt that the policemen resorted to this method to prevent vehicle thefts. Known as the most-crime prone area in Coimbatore district, at least five cars parked on the roads were stolen in the last 30 days at Edayarpalayam. By puncturing the tyres, the policemen apparently wanted to make it impossible for thieves to drive away with the vehicles. Apparently, the police had asked residents not to park their cars on the streets to prevent theft.