Usman Ali Khan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Anti Land Grabbing Cell, Vellore, has been trapped and arrested by Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Tuesday while allegedly taking money from a complainant to pursue a land grabbing case.
The arrest was carried out in the land grab cell office located in District Police Office.
According to DVAC case, Sujatha, wife of M.S. Kumaresan, a gold smith belonging to Arcot, bought 7,500 square feet land at Arappakkam near Vellore in 2004. In 2009, she gave a power of attorney to Ajay to sell the land on her behalf on the condition that in case of sale or other transactions involving money vis-à-vis the land, they should be intimated in advance. But Mr. Ajay chose not to inform them when he sold it to his brother Deepak in 2012. Subsequently, it was sold to a third person. But the landowner Ms. Sujatha did not get any consideration and the market value of the land went up to Rs. 75 lakh.
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Mr. Kumaresan filed a complaint and a case was registered by the Anti Land Grabbing Cell on August 16. Mr. Ajay was arrested. Four other accused, including Mr. Deepak, were not arrested.
Meanwhile, Mr. Khan allegedly demanded Rs. 5 lakh from Mr. Kumaresan for taking action in the case and for filing a charge sheet. After negotiations, he allegedly settled for Rs. 3.5 lakh. However, Mr. Kumaresan approached the DVAC in Vellore with a complaint on December 24. Additional SP M. Balasubramanian made a preliminary enquiry and registered a case. Based on the plan of DVAC, Mr. Kumaresan handed over Rs. 50,000 to Mr. Khan in his office. As he was allegedly accepting the money, DVAC sleuths caught him red-handed.