Two cops, 1 treasury official booked for taking bribe from ganja peddler

Salem: The Directorate of the Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC) has registered a case against two police officials and a treasury department official for taking bribe from a woman ganja peddler to let her smuggle the contraband into the district for sales and walk free from a case.
DVAC sleuths identified the accused as DSP P Kumar, who is currently attached to the Narcotic Intelligence Bureau-CID (NIB-CID) in the district, K Santha, former NIB-CID inspector, and M Sibichakravarthy, office superintendent with the Treasuries and Accounts department in Thajavur district.
A senior DVAC officer said they have initiated action against the trio based on a complaint lodged by K Rani, of Maniyanur in Namakkal district.
According to the officer, Rani was arrested by Kumar and his team when she was smuggling 45kg opium in December 2016. “Kumar made a deal with Rani to allow her to continue her business in return for a bribe of Rs 25,000 every month. She subsequently stared to pay him either in person or transfer the amount to a bank account owned by Kumar’s brother-in-law Sibichakravarthi.”
On December 5, 2017, then NIB-CID inspector Santha secured Rani and her accomplices Murugan and Kuppayee. However, Kumar intervened and protected Rani. “He did not register any case against Rani and for that he demanded Rs 2 lakh,” the officer said.
While Rani paid Rs 80,000 to Kumar and Santha, she failed to pay them the remaining amount. When Kumar started to threaten Rani, she lodged the complaint with Salem district DVAC ADSP S Chandramouli on March 9, 2018. The ADSP forwarded the complaint to the concerned departments, seeking permission for further proceedings.
“We got consent from all the department on July 20, 2019. So, we have registered the case against the trio. We will submit the first information report (FIR) before the court and they will be punished if found guilty.” the officer said.