Chennai metropolis police arrested three officers from the Revenue-Tax (I-T) Division and a particular sub-inspector (SSI) of police for an alleged hawala cash heist price Rs 15 lakh. In line with the Chennai police, the suspects, now in judicial custody, reportedly used their official positions and sources to execute the theft.
The complainant, H Mohamed Ghouse, 31, a group agent based mostly in Washermenpet within the metropolis, complained that the accused intercepted him on December 16 close to the Authorities Multi-Tremendous Speciality Hospital on Anna Salai. In line with the grievance filed on the Triplicane Police Station, Ghouse was allegedly transporting Rs 20 lakh on behalf of his employer, Junaid Ahmed, the proprietor of a CT scan centre in Vaniyambadi and a neighborhood Congress occasion official at 8 pm, when he was stopped by a person in a police uniform on a motorcycle.
The officer allegedly questioned him in regards to the contents of his bag, demanded documentation, after which made a cellphone name. Shortly thereafter, a person figuring out himself as an I-T officer allegedly arrived and summoned three extra people in an official automobile.
Ghouse was allegedly coerced into accompanying the group within the automobile. Nonetheless, as a substitute of taking him to the I-T workplace as claimed, the suspects drove him to the neighborhood of the Egmore Youngsters’s Hospital. There they allegedly brandished a knife, seized Rs. 15 lakh, and left Ghouse with Rs 5 lakh earlier than dropping him off.
Dramatic flip
The case took a dramatic activate December 17 when Ghouse filed a grievance. Preliminary inquiries revealed that SSI Raja Singh of the Triplicane police station, had intercepted Ghouse and alerted Damodharan, a 41-year-old I-T inspector, in regards to the money. Damodharan, in flip, knowledgeable his superior, 42-year-old Pradeep. Each Pradeep and Prabhu, a 31-year-old I-T superintendent, then arrived on the scene, transported Ghouse in a automobile, and allegedly orchestrated the heist.
Throughout interrogation, the accused allegedly admitted to splitting the stolen money and utilizing official automobiles to facilitate the crime. CCTV footage allegedly corroborated key components of the complainant’s account, serving to police to trace and apprehend the suspects.
Inspector Prakash of the Triplicane Regulation and Order Wing led the operation to get well the stolen cash, seizing all the quantity from Prabhu’s residence. The police additionally claimed to have impounded the automobiles used within the incident. Additional investigation revealed that Ghouse had handed over Rs 5 lakh to a different particular person in Triplicane in response to his employer’s directions.
Whereas all three I-T officers are connected to the I-T Division workplace in Nungambakkam, Raja Singh, 48, a particular sub-inspector is from the Kondithope police quarters. All 4 have been remanded to judicial custody.
A senior officer probing the case stated it was Inspector Singh who initiated the scheme by figuring out Ghouse as a possible goal carrying giant sums of unaccounted money.
“We’re probing whether or not the accused have been concerned in comparable crimes earlier. Using official automobiles and the involvement of a number of officers point out a stage of planning and coordination that might level to a broader community of corruption,” the officer stated.
The arrested officers have been booked with costs beneath sections associated to theft, felony conspiracy, and abuse of official place.
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