District Superintendent denies being relieved from gutkha unit probe

A section of regional media had carried news about him being replaced with the Additional Superintendent of Police (ADSP). However, Moorthy told DT Next that there has been no order from the DGP office in this regard. 

“It is a rumour spread by someone with malicious intent. The Sulur station Inspector Thangaraj, under whose jurisdiction the gutkha unit was busted, is the main investigating officer in the case. ADSP Anitha is a part of the special team probing into the issue and they regularly report the case developments to me,” he said. The SP wondered as to how a lower-rung officer could replace him in supervising the probe. 

“ADSP Anitha was recently entrusted with a special duty in Erode district by the DGP office. After I took up the issue and informed that she was part of the team investigating the gutkha unit case, the order was revoked. I believe this issue has been twisted as though I was relieved from the probe,” he said. On the gutkha probe developments, the SP said efforts are on to trace Amith Jain, the mastermind behind the unit’s operation. 

“The unit manager Raguraman, who is under police custody, is being questioned for further information about their illegal activities,” he said. 

The Police had busted the illegal tobacco manufacturing unit functioning in Coimbatore’s suburbs last month. They had seized a huge quantity of illegal tobacco products, worth several lakhs. However, the raid was mired in controversy from the start as the cops arrested seven DMK functionaries for staging a protest against the unit. 

A search is still on for three others, including Singanallur constituency MLA N Karthik. DMK working president M K Stalin, while spearheading a demonstration against implication of DMK functionaries in the case, had raised allegations of a biased probe by the SP.