DSP's Red Sanders Link Exposed
By J Shanmugha Sundaram and M Chitharth
Published: 30th May 2015 06:00 AM
The house where red sanders logs were found in Rangapuram; and (inset) house owners Nagendran and wife, Jothy Lakshmi, on Friday | S Dinesh
VELLORE:In a shocking revelation, investigation into the murder of a 45-year-old poultry farm owner in Palur has unearthed nexus between smugglers of red sanders and police, including the DSP of Prohibition Enforcement Wing (PEW). Four policemen - Samuel and Soundar Rajan of PEW, Rajesh and Srinivasan of Armed Reserve Police - were picked up for inquiry on Friday and subsequently released, according to Superintendent of Police P K Senthil Kumari, while a hunt is on for the DSP of PEW Thangavel.
Police have seized Rs 32 lakh in cash, 108 red sander logs weighing 3.5 tonnes and three four-wheelers from a smuggler Nagendran, who reportedly had illegal business links with Thangavel for the past four months. The 52-year-old DSP was transferred to Vellore from Kancheepuram only five months ago, and it is reliably learnt that he was regularly receiving bribe from Nagendran.
According to sources, acting on a tip off, Thangavel had carried out a raid on Nagendran’s house and seized red sander logs weighing around two tonnes four months ago. Nagendran reportedly pleaded with the DSP to let him go and offered him a good share of money by selling the logs. Accepting the ‘offer’, the DSP let him off and Nagendran allegedly paid Rs 7 lakh in return. The officer eventually developed a habit of accepting money from him since then.
Recently, Nagendran handed over 4.5 tonnes of red sander logs to M Chinnapayan, a PMK functionary and poultry farm owner in Palur, asking him to sell them. When Nagendran asked money from Chinnapayan, he allegedly told him that the logs were seized by police and started to avoid him.
Coming to know that Chinnapayan had around 7.5 tonnes of red sanders in his house, Nagendran sought Thangavel’s help to retrieve them. Accordingly, Thangavel along with four policemen dressed in plain clothes, accompanied Nagendran, to Chinnapayan’s house and assaulted him while inquiring about the logs on May 25. Chinnapayan handed over the logs weighing 7.5 tonnes to the DSP, who in turn gave them to Nagendran.
The racket came to light with the arrest of four persons -- K Venkatesan, S Thangaraj, M Perumal and S Sathiyamurthi -- in connection with Chinnapayan’s murder. During inquiry, they confessed that Perumal, a notorious smuggler, had handed over around 7.5 tonnes of red sander logs to Chinnapayan a week ago.
When Perumal and his friends asked for the money on Tuesday, Chinnapayan told them that a few police officials led by DSP Thangavel had seized the logs and given them to Nagendran. Not convinced by Chinnapayan’s claim, the gang beat him to death and dumped the body by the road. When police checked the records about red sanders having been seized from Chinnapayan, they found no details. Police then raided Nagendran’s house, seized the logs and the cash and arrested him along with his wife on Thursday.
While sources informed that DSP Thangavel was in police custody, the Superintendent of Police Senthil Kumari said, “We have launched an investigation and special teams have been formed to secure the DSP of PEW Thangavel.” It is feared that police is trying to cover up the case by side lining the role played by the DSP in the murder and smuggling.
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