SALEM: DVAC sleuths registered a case against a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), an inspector and a superintendent of Thanjavur treasury department for reportedly receiving lakhs of rupees as bribe from ganja sellers of four districts over the past two years.
The issue came to light when the wife of a suspect in a ganja case lodged a complaint with the DVAC Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Chandramouli on Monday. In her complaint, K Rani (40), a resident of Maniyanoor in Namakkal, said that despite regularly receiving bribe from her husband Kumar (45), DSP of Narcotics Intelligence Bureau (NIB) CID (Salem) P Kumar had him detained under the Goondas Act.
A few months ago, the DSP asked Rani to take over ganja selling business and assured not to arrest her for monthly protection money of `1 lakh. When she refused, the DSP reportedly agreed brought down the amount to Rs 25,000 a month. However, once they sealed the deal, he asked for more money. Fearing arrest, Rani left her two children with her mother and went into hiding in Andhra Pradesh. To arm-twist Rani, the NIB CID police arrested her mother for allegedly selling ganja.
Meanwhile, the DSP again approached Rani through NIB CID inspector Santha, who is currently serving in Tirunelveli district, and asked her to sell ganja for a monthly bribe. Unable to take the pressure, Rani returned home only to lodge a complaint at the DVAC office.
Preliminary investigation by the DVAC officials revealed that DSP Kumar had allegedly collected lakhs of rupees from hundreds of ganja sellers in four districts -- Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri. For the past two years, the ganja sellers had been depositing the bribe money into the bank account of DSP Kumar’s brother-in-law Cibi Chakravarthy, who is working as a superintendent in Thanjavur’s treasury department.
With this evidence, the DVAC sleuths registered a case against DSP Kumar, his brother-in-law Cibi Chakravarthy and inspector Santha. Sources in the DVAC told TNIE that the DSP was attending a 15-days departmental training programme in Hyderabad. A decision has been made to investigate Santha and Cibi Chakravarthy in a couple of days, they said.
All in the family
A probe by DVAC revealed that DSP Kumar had allegedly collected lakhs from hundreds of ganja sellers in Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri. For the past two years, sellers had been depositing money into bank account of DSP Kumar’s brother-in-law Cibi Chakravarthy, Superintendent in Thanjavur’s treasury. With this evidence, the DVAC sleuths registered a case against DSP Kumar, his brother-in-law Cibi Chakravarthy and inspector Santha. Sources said the DSP was attending a 15-days departmental training programme in Hyderabad