CHENNAI: In the late 1980s, in the aftermath of M G Ramachandran’s death, a young DSP took charge in Rameswaram with the brief to quell rowdyism and check smuggling by the LTTE of essentials and drugs to war-torn Sri Lanka. It was a period when notorious rowdy ‘Court’ Mani’s writ ran large in Rameswaram, the small fishing-cum-pilgrim town. The story went that Mani flung sickles in courts to intimidate district magistrates and that even the police cowered in fear.Barely 30 years old, the DSP undertook a daily ritual – he would get off his police jeep and walk down Mani’s turf, Sowkku Thoppu on Dhanushkodi road, twirling his 9mm pistol around his trigger finger and his well-groomed handlebar moustache.“The sight of the dapper officer walking on the road struck fear,” recalled retired police officer R Venkateswaran, then a sub-inspector. The rowdy elements tried to strike a chord with the officer using their thevar caste affiliation. But, it didn’t work. Freelance journalist and Rameswaram native S P Loganathan admitted that during the officer’s short Rameswaram tenure, ‘Court’ Mani and his gang were driven underground and smuggling across the Palk Strait reduced significantly.That’s G Pon Manickavel for you. An officer who loves theatrics, courts controversies and refuses to play by the book. He charted a contentious and controversial course that won him more adversaries than well-wishers. But, it earned him the reputation of a tough officer, fanatically committed to work. Friends and foes admit that he toils long hours – 16 hours every day.Born in Arasarpatti in Madurai district, Pon Manickavel aspired to be a civil servant just like his father who retired as additional collector. Though he never aspired for the uniformed service, his audacious and unequivocal reply to a job interview panel, that included retired DGP Walter Devaram, got him into the force. He was asked what he would do if 50 people attacked a police station. Without batting an eye, he replied he would “open fire in such a manner that a similar incident would not recur for another 100 years”.Revered by some and hated by some of those with whom he had running feuds, Pon Manickavel is hardly your friendly, neighbourhood policeman. He employed unconventional methods to make an impression. “Serving as superintendent of police in the districts, he would remove the doors of his office from their hinges, keep it aside and invite the public to meet him any time of the day,” said advocate and friend ‘Elephant’ G Rajendran.Pon Manickavel’s checkered career has had more downs than ups with some officers insisting that adverse reports had been sent against him to the government and courts. But, his loyalists swear by his integrity and boast of the encomiums he received from both the Supreme Court and the Madras high court. The eight ‘encounters’ during his tenure as Chengalpet East SP spread fear among anti-socials, said a former associate.His stint as IG of idol wing-CID from 2012 is perhaps the most remarkable. He clashed with the courts and the government and unnerved the elitists with his bullish persistence of what he perceived as right and wrong. Attempts by the government to shunt him out of the idol wing to Government Railway Police failed with the courts coming to his rescue.The ongoing legal battle against the state-managed Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department that administers thousands of temples across Tamil Nadu is an example of the officer’s lonely but relentless pursuit of what he believes is justice and his dogged fight to rid corruption and protect temple treasures.To him goes the credit of having recovered 1,129 stolen idols worth hundreds of crores of rupees, some of them exhibited in renowned museums across the world. When he joined the idol wing, he had a staff strength of 29 to help him in his ‘mission’. The force has now dwindled to seven that includes a disabled DSP, besides four more and two ADSPs. During his six-year stint in the idol wing, Pon Manickavel arrested 150 men, including an officer and high-profile millionaire-idol smuggler Subhash Kapoor, and put his signature on several first information reports.With just two days left for his superannuation (on November 30), his detractors are cheering. His fans, however, have their fingers crossed, hoping for a ‘legal miracle’. But, having opened the Pandora’s box, Pon Manickavel will continue to be tied to the idol wing even after his retirement – having been the complainant, investigator and witness in several idol theft cases. “I have thrown a stone. This is the ripple effect” was his cryptic remark to TOI.