COIMBATORE: Inspector General of Police and Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited S Pramod Kumar IPS on Friday surrendered before the special court in connection with an extortion case linked to the multi-crore Paazee forex scam, probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI). Following that, the court recalled the non-bailable warrant against him and directed him to appear on November 4.
On Wednesday the court issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Pramod Kumar after he failed to appear for a hearing. Four other suspects including two police officers appeared in the case. The court adjourned the hearing to Friday.
On Friday morning, Pramod Kumar surrendered and filed a discharge application. The court adjourned the hearing on it to October 31. The court also dismissed the petition requesting an adjournment of the case hearing filed by one of the suspects V Mohanraj who was inspector of the Central Crime Branch at Tiruppur. Meanwhile, the CBI filed a status report of the case before the court stating that further investigation into the case has not been completed so far.
The case is linked to a case registered by the Tiruppur Central Crime Branch against Paazee Forex Trading India Private Limited in 2009 for cheating depositors to the tune of Rs 930.71 crore. In 2012, the CBI who took over the case arrested five including Pramod Kumar for allegedly having connections with the scam. CBI booked a case against him under five IPC sections including extortion and the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. A special court in Coimbatore sentenced Kamalavalli and another director of the firm K Mohanraj to 27 years of rigorous imprisonment in August 2022 and imposed a fine of Rs 171.54 crore on them.