Police steps up vigil at suicide points

They were on the lookout for desperate investors who had lost heavily in the meltdown of the last few days and stock brokers faced with a payments crisis.

One area that saw heavy deployment of police since the morning was Kankaria Lake in Ahmedabad. The state has a population of around 400,000 investors and several of them are reported to have been hit hard by the stock market crash.

In the last few days, some investors had shifted to the commodities market because of sliding prices in the stock markets, hoping to make a fast buck on rising global commodity prices. But with commodity prices coming down in tandem with the stock markets, their plans have received a rude shock.

"I am headed to a hospital for a check-up as I have lost approximately a crore in commodities," a Jamnagar-based trader said. There were instances when the margin calls of traders in the stock market were compensated by setting off positions in the commodities market.

The stock brokers, like in any fall, were caught between their clients and the compliance managers. While clients often beg and plead for more time to make good their positions, compliance insists on "cut and run".

"When financial trouble hits, people behave differently. Clients get emotional and can forget all the money you have earned for them in the past," a dealer said.