TIRUPATI: The police department has cracked the whip against four errant police officers on corruption charges at the Tirupati urban police district on Wednesday.
According to Tirupati SP P Parameswara Reddy, Tiruchanoor SIs I Veeresh, M Ramakrishna, B Ramakrishna Reddy and CI M Subramanyam had colluded with a group of private persons, forcibly vacated a godown and tried to illegally encash a cigarette consignment worth Rs.20 lakh belonging to the ITC.
Following a complaint lodged by ITC group representatives recently, Tirupati SP ordered a departmental enquiry which brought out some startling revelations following the conclusion of the investigation.
It was found during the investigation that a resident of Hyderabad identified as DG Nishanth owned a two-floor building in an extent of 100 ankanams at Srinivasapuram locality in Tirupati rural mandal, which he had leased to a resident of Chennai identified as Muthu Kumar. This Muthu Kumar was a distributor of ITC and other FMCG products.
When DG Nishanth wanted to sell off his building, the tenant Muthu Kumar refused to vacate, prompting Nishanth Kumar to a real estate broker identified as R Manikanta, a resident of Bairagipatteda locality in the city.
The real estate broker managed to get the building sold off to one Dr Rehman and when the new owner of the property asked Muthu Kumar to vacate the building, he not only refused to do so but tried to claim that the property belonged to him and that he had relevant documents with him.
However, Dr Rehman managed to get Muthu Kumar to vacate the building with the help of local rowdies identified as Irfan and Srinivas in April this year.
While until here the whole episode was between private persons, it was here that Tiruchanoor SI I Veeresh intervened and with the help of Manikanta, Irfan and Srinivas, he illegally took possession of ITC's cigarette consignment worth Rs.20 lakh and encashed it.
SI I Veeresh also shared some portion of the illegally acquired money with his colleagues at the Tiruchanoor police station identified as SI M Ramakrishna, SI B Ramakrishna Reddy and CI M Subramanyam.
Following the outcome of the detailed departmental enquiry, Tirupati SP P Parameswara Reddy placed four errant cops under suspension with immediate effect on Wednesday.
He also warned the entire police department to work with integrity and refrain from such acts which would not only land them in trouble but would also bring disrepute to the entire police force.
