CHENNAI: A day after a complaint was filed by a man on being kidnapped and robbed of Rs 15 lakh, Triplicane police on Wednesday arrested four people including three officials from income tax department and a special sub inspector (SSI). Police recovered a car, two wheelers and the stolen cash from them. The arrested men are I-T inspector Damodharan, I-T officer Pradeep, I-T superintendent Prabhu and SSI Raja Singh of Triplicane police station.
The issue came to light when H Mohammad Ghouse of Washermenpet lodged a police complaint after he was robbed. Ghouse was carrying Rs 20 lakh that was given to him by his employer Juniad Ahmed to buy a CT scanner. Ahmed ran a CT scan centre at Vaniyambadi in Tirupattur district. On Monday, Ahmed called Ghouse and told him to give Rs 10 lakh to a man in Triplicane.
Ghouse was intercepted near the Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital located at the Omandurar Estate by a man in a police uniform. After he checked Ghouse’s bag and found the cash, he was taken away by four others in a car.
The four men claimed to be I-T department officials and showed Ghouse their ID cards. When they reached Egmore, they threatened him with a knife and took the cash. He was let go after that.
On inquiry, SSI Raja, who was present at the scene, told police that he stopped Ghouse, and since he did not have proper documents for the cash, he alerted the I-T department about a ‘hawala’ carrier. Damodharan, Pradeep and Prabhu came to the spot and took Ghouse in the car. Raja had alerted the I-T department without informing his higher officials.
While initially Ghouse claimed he had lost Rs 20 lakh, it was found that the gang robbed Rs 15 lakh from him and he had given rest to the man in Triplicane as instructed by Ahmed. The police recovered the stolen amount from Prabhu’s house.