Madras HC grants bail to police, I-T officials caught for extortion

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court granted bail to the police and Income-Tax (I-T) officials who were arrested for allegedly extorting Rs 15 lakh from a man after threatening him at knifepoint.

Justice Sunder Mohan directed the investigation officer to deposit the recovered money to the account of the trial court while granting bail to all the alleged accused.

The counsel for the accused persons submitted that they were taken into custody and detained for more than a month and sought bail for them.

Special sub-inspector (SSI) T Rajasingh, attached to the Triplicane police station, intercepted Mohammad Ghouse, who was travelling on a two-wheeler carrying Rs 20 lakh, near Government Omandurar Multi Super Speciality Hospital on December 16.

Later, three officials from the I-T department, Dhamodaran, Pradeep and Prabhu, reached the spot in a car and took Ghouse with them.

While on the way, the officials allegedly brandished a knife and threatened Ghouse to hand over the money that he was carrying. They allegedly took Rs 15 lakh and threw him out of the car at Egmore and fled from the spot.

Suspecting that he was robbed by impersonators, Ghouse filed a complaint. However, the inquiry by the police revealed that they were actual government officials, and arrested Rajasingh and the three I-T officials.

After conducting a preliminary investigation, the police said a sub-inspector identified as Sunny Lloyd, attached to the Saidapet police station, was also involved in the crime. Sunny absconded but based on a tipoff, a special team went to Dehradun and nabbed him from a resort there.

It was reported that Ghouse was carrying the money given to him by a businessman to purchase a CT scan machine. The officials got the information somehow and extorted the money.