Marginal increase in murders, road accident deaths in 2010

Chennai, Jan 13 (PTI) Chennai witnessed a marginalincrease last year in the number of murders in the city anddeaths due to road accidents, the city police said in itsannual records that were released today.

The metro recorded 98 murders last year as against 96 in2009, the records said.

Six of these killings were murders for gain which havebeen ''cracked'' by the police, including the murder case of achild by a woman to apparently settle scores with her lover,the victim''s father, for jilting her, it said.

Except for cases of murders and chain snatching, othercriminal incidents such as crimes against women and childrenand robbery have shown a decline, it said.

"Large number of CCTVs installed at the initiative ofChennai Police resulted in detection of murder, burglary,theft, snatching and accident cases," the records said.

The number of people killed in road accidents last yearalso showed a marginal increase, taking the figure from 618 in2009 to 621 in 2010. However, this was lesser compared to 2008figures when deaths due to road accidents stood at 629.

Pedestrians were the victims in most case of fatalities,with 260 dead, the records said. The Arterial Anna Salaiwitnessed the maximum number of deaths at 50 while 248 personswere injured in various accidents there.

The city police in the annual records called forimproving pedestrian facilities in the metro and said that 25percent of the fatalities involved two-wheelers, followed bylorries at 17 percent.

"One in every five persons killed on the road is a seniorcitizen, (and) 25 percent of these senior citizens are women,"the records said.