page_title: K. Radhakrishnan (police officer)
section_title: Coimbatore Blasts of 1998
hierarchical_section_title: K. Radhakrishnan (police officer) / Coimbatore Blasts of 1998
caption_attribution_description: English: K.Radhakrishnan during the Vienna Conference.
context_page_description: Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, IPS is an Indian Police Service Officer of the batch of 1983, belonging to the Tamil Nadu Cadre. Currently, he is serving as the Director General of Police of the Civil Supplies, CID department of Tamil Nadu.
  Dr. K. Radhakrishnan did his PhD from the Department of Criminology from the University of Madras for seminal research on ‘Tactical and Strategic Police Response to Communal Violence: Coimbatore, a case study’, in October 2009. He received the Queen's Award for Innovation in Police Training and Development in 2002 and 2004.
context_section_description: Background
  Coimbatore City, popularly known as the "Manchester of South India" due to its booming textile industry, witnessed several debilitating communal riots from 1980, culminating in the serial blasts of 1998 that claimed more 50 lives and injured hundreds.  Al Ummah, a militant, fundamentalist organisation that took birth in the immediate aftermath of Babri Masjid destruction at Ayodhya, murdered a Hindu Police Constable on 29 November 1997 at Coimbatore in reaction to which, the police constabulary immediately struck work.  According to the various investigative reports that emerged post the attacks, Hindu militants of the region exploited the security vacuum by targeting Muslims and their properties; 18 Muslims (and 4 Hindus) lost their lives at Coimbatore.  In an apparent retaliation, the Muslim fundamentalist organisation Al Ummah, within 2½ month engineered serial blasts on 14 February 1998 in the run-up to the Parliamentary Elections killing 63 (53 Hindus), maiming 245 and destroying properties worth several crores of rupees. The confusion and the communal instability of the region, shattered peace, trade, commerce, industry and people's morale. Fearing a Hindu backlash, the Army and several paramilitary forces moved into Coimbatore leading to a period of unrest and uncertainty.
  Community Policing Strategies
  Stepping in as the Commissioner of Police of Coimbatore City in the immediate aftermath of the serial blasts, K.Radhakrishnan insulated the police force involved in the arrests from the intervention of political parties, by forming a 50-member arrest team, which worked only with the Special Investigation Team in the probe. 167 militants, including 5 suicide bombers and the accused of the November 1997 murders, who were involved in the series of events leading up to the 1998 blasts were arrested. Organising extensive searches that led to the seizure of 684 lethal weapons, 584 bombs, 20 firearms, one lakh detonators, cash, addresses of the benefactors of the accused, fundamentalist literature, incriminating documents and photographs, he and his team made sure that by video-graphing all the raids, there was no violation of code of conduct or human rights.
  Upon realising the importance of hard intelligence in dealing with communally active zones, K.Radhakrishnan innovated the proactive concept of community policing aimed for a police force's partnership with the civil society in maintaining a peaceful religious climate. The action plan aimed at involving the community in policing spheres, in resolving the Hindu-Muslim discord and in bringing about a life free of communal violence for the residents of Coimbatore. In April 1998, he established 78 Area Committees (ACs) with 4000 partners in 72 wards with the objective of using the community to resolve conflicts. AC meetings were conducted once in a fortnight in sensitive zones and once in a month in other areas under each local Inspector's supervision. This forum helped the police discuss current problems with the civilians and in exchange, provided them with valuable information on new, emerging communal dimensions. The pro-active focus was expanded with the formation of City Vigilance Committees (CVC) in mid-1998. CVCs were created in every police station limit with 5000 students and youths as members. Bestowed with identity cards, caps, batons and taught basic policing methods, these 200 to 250 CVC volunteers patrolled the streets every night along with the police. This augmented safety and security and brought down the incidence of violent property offences by 30 percent. Round the clock vigil was thus maintained by deploying CVC members and police personnel and this new method of involving the civil society in policing proved useful in removing communal biases and false allegations. Besides the student community, CVC volunteers were involved in frisking passengers, checking baggage at important junctions, railway stations and bus stands during turbulent times. CVCs visibly improved the visibility of policing in the documented 'sensitive' zones.
  Honors and R
caption: Dr.K.Radhakrishnan in a conference in Vienna, presenting his work on Community Policing
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