City police officials said that murders due to family problems or personal animosity cannot be prevented, but admitted, on condition of anonymity, that murder by gangs put them in a bad light. “We are checking the list of cases to identify if there are any cases pending against some rowdy,” said Police Commissioner R Sekar. The police were able to nab the accused in all other cases except in the MGR kin’s case.

The police are also preparing a list of murders in the past decade. Sekar asserted that the police would be tough on rowdies; one was killed in an encounter on last Sunday, when he resisted the police team’s efforts to arrest him.

“To prevent rowdies and gangs from gaining strength, we are taking preventive measures like rounding up the criminals during night,” he added.