Crackdown on ‘dirty’ cops: Chennai police top brass suspends two head constables

CHENNAI: Two policemen were placed under suspension by Greater Chennai City Police in separate cases. A head constable who has a criminal case against him for allegedly cheating investors by luring them to invest in the stock market was suspended while the other, a traffic head constable, was suspended for booking traffic offences during off duty hours leading to an accident.

Traffic head constable Iyyamperumal, who was attached to the Velachery traffic enforcement wing, flagged an auto-rickshaw on Monday night - after his duty hours. The driver lost control of the vehicle and suffered an injury on one of his hands.

Police found that Iyyamperumal's duty had ended earlier in the evening. A senior police officer pointed out that, as a constable, he does not have the authority to book cases on his own, as only officials in the rank of sub-inspector and above can issue challans. Further, he was not in uniform and the place where he attempted to enforce traffic does not fall under his jurisdiction, sources said.

In the other case, Krishna Prashanth, a head constable with Thousand Lights police station, was placed under suspension after criminal cases were registered against him for luring investors. Krishna Prashanth along with three others were booked by the Kumaran Nagar police on a complaint by a family member of a police sub-inspector. He also already has a case against him in Guduvanchery, police sources said.