3 cops suspended for taking bribe from tobacco smugglers near Krishnagiri

Acting on a tip-off, the Krishnagiri Town police carried out a vehicle check on Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri National Highway on Saturday night and caught a mini-van stocked with banned tobacco products.

The police arrested driver Sundaramurthy, 27, from Villupuram, while another person accompanying him fled the scene. Inquiries revealed that Sundaramurthy was smuggling the consignment of banned tobacco products from Bengaluru to Villupuram through Krishnagiri district.

During inquiries, Sundaramurthy spilled the beans, saying that three cops, who stopped his vehicle for a check, had let him off with the illegal consignment worth about Rs 23 lakh on receiving a bribe near Kurubarapalli area.

Following this, Krishnagiri Superintendent of Police Bandi Gangadhar placed the three persons Saravanan, Siva Kumar and Murugan under suspension. Furtherinquiries are on.

Meanwhile, in a similar incident, banned gutka products worth Rs 30 lakh were seized from a godown in Coimbatore.

A police team, led by Deputy Commissioner Balaji Saravanan, raided a godown on Variety Hall Road following information that huge quantity of tobacco products were stocked up in the godown there.

Following inquiries, the police arrested Pramod Kumar, 37, and his brother Vinod Kumar, 28, who were also found stocking the tobacco products in their house located nearby the godown.

The duo smuggled the illegal products from Bengaluru and supplied them to shops across the district. The police suspect a larger network of persons involved in the trade and further inquiries are on to nab them all. The police said that they have seized gutka products worth over Rs 1 crore in the last one month alone.