CHENNAI: Sleuths from the Central Crime Branch (CCB) arrested a 56-year-old postman for allegedly helping a head constable, who was arrested on Tuesday, in a fake passport scam.
On Wednesday, postman Dhanasekaran reportedly confessed to the police that he would hand over the passports that came by speed post to head constable Murugan or the kingpin in the case, Ramalingam.
“Based on this, the duo would issue passports. For this, the postman was paid `500 to `1000 for each passport,” said an investigation officer.
During investigations, it was found that Ramalingam would send applicants to Murugan by providing fake address. “It was the head constable’s duty to visit the applicants’ address to ensure if it was indeed the real address. But he would never visit the houses and approve the applications that came to him.” said a police officer.
Later, Dhanasekaran, who was assigned to dispatch the letters, would hand over the passports to the head constable or Ramalingam.
Dhanasekaran of Kannagi Nagar, employed at the Mount Road post-office, was assigned to dispatch letters to areas like Pudupet and Chindatripet. He has been in service for more than 30 years and was to retire in 2018.
This arrest was made a day after K Murugan, 49, attached to the Intelligence Wing of Chintadripet police station, was nabbed by the police based on the information provided by Ramalingam from Pudukottai, the kingpin in the fake passport scam who was also picked up by the police.
Murugan had told the police that he met Dhanasekaran and sought his help to get access to the passports.
“Since both worked in the same area, the duo decided to execute the job successfully,” said the officer.
Police said Dhanasekaran so far had handed nearly 15 such passports.