'At Sarafa, even walls of our shops are one'

Indore: "Even the walls of our shops are one. We all know each other inside out and so nothing big can happen here," said jeweller Mohanlal Soni.

The police also came in for rare praise. "The credit goes to the cops here. Even at night we are not worried because we know that the patrolling in the area is very strong. We trust the officers, know them personally," said Manohar Surana, another jeweller. To prevent thefts, the traders have deployed latest gadgets even if their shops are centuries-old. "There is not a single shop which doesn't have CCTV cameras installed. We know each and everyone here and even when any dispute comes up we sit down together and solve it. No one can run away after committing a heinous crime, thanks to these narrow lanes," said Rajendra Vyas, a trader in the area.

The Sarafa police station area is spread across an area of 4.5 sq km. The locality resembles the famous Chandini Chowk of Delhi, which, coincidentally also shows a similar trend in crime.

"Generations of people have lived in the area together since the British era and know each other's families very well. This brings down the number of heinous crimes significantly," North Delhi deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Madhur Verma told TOI. He could have been speaking for Indore's Sarafa also. But make no mistake: Sarafa is an oasis in a city where the crime graph just keeps rising. Indore has recorded an average of 30 murders, 63 rapes and 147 abductions in the last three years. tnn