An Assistant Commissioner of Police, an Inspector and four other police personnel in Chennai have been suspended on charges of abducting an entrepreneur, his fiancée and members of his family and forcing them to part with certain properties in 2019. The policemen had resorted to the illegal “settlement” while intervening in a civil dispute.
The Crime Branch CID had registered a case against the accused in June last year and subsequently conducted searches at their houses.
Chennai City Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal on Monday issued orders suspending the then Assistant Commissioner of Thirumangalam Police Station, A. Sivakumar, Inspector Saravanan, Sub-Inspector Pandiarajan and constables Giri, Bala and Shankar.
The entrepreneur, Rajesh, had filed a complaint against the six police personnel. He said he had entered into a business venture with two friends a couple of years ago, but later wound up operations. Though the monetary settlement was done among the partners through bank transfers, he claimed that the ACP and other personnel, acting at the behest of one of the partners, took him to the Thirumangalam Police Station during September/October 2019 and threatened him to part with more money.
Mr. Rajesh alleged that in May 2019, a police team, along with some civilians, abducted him, his fiancée and members of his family and kept them in illegal confinement at a farm house in Red Hills. He claimed that the police threatened to physically harm him and the others unless they transferred the ownership of certain properties to his erstwhile business partner, Srinivasa Rao.
Civilians’ involvement
It was on the complaint of Mr. Rao, who claimed that Mr. Rajesh owed him ₹5.5 crore, that the police team comprising the accused carried out the alleged abduction and threat. Mr. Rajesh claimed that Venkatesh, Siva Srinivasa Rao, Tarun Krishna Prasad and ‘Kodambakkam’ Sree, all civilians, were also involved.
Originally, Mr. Rajesh filed a complaint with the Anna Nagar Police. Alleging that no action was taken on his complaint, he approached the then Director General of Police. The DGP reviewed the complaint and forwarded it to the CB-CID a few months ago. The CB-CID then registered a case against 10 persons, including the six policemen.
