Inspector caught taking bribe to register FIR

TNN; Wednesday, February 16, 2011,

COIMBATORE: In a crackdown on corrupt policemen, an inspector was caught red-handed on Tuesday as he was receiving a bribe for registering a first information report.

The vigilance and anti-corruption police stormed into the Saravanampatty police station just as the inspector, T Sivakumar, received Rs 15,000 from a motor manufacturer for registering a case.

"We caught him receiving the cash from the complainant and arrested him. We have seized the bribe amount," said ADSP, vigilance and anti-corruption wing, D Shanmugapriya. The inspector had been transferred to Ukkadam police station a fortnight ago following several complaints of corruption. However, the transfer orders were put on hold for administrative reasons.

"We received several complaints against the police inspector and an enquiry was conducted. We decided to issue a charge memo against the inspector," said police commissioner C Sylendra Babu. The commissioner said the arrest of the inspector should come as a warning to all police personnel who had a "tendency to demand and receive bribes".

On November 4, 2010, P K Ganesan, who runs a submersible motor manufacturing unit in Ganapathy here, went to the Saravanampatty police station to lodge a complaint against one of his employees. In his written complaint, he said that a woman employees in his factory, S Leelavathy had swindled Rs 6 lakh in cash.

Inspector Sivakumar refused to register a case. "He demanded 10% of the swindled cash for registering an FIR," Ganesan said. After two months, Ganesan handed over a complaint to the city police commissioner. The complaint was forwarded to the inspector, yet no action was taken. An angry Ganesan sought information on the status of his complaint through an RTI application. In his reply, the inspector said the matter was pending before the court.

When Ganesan pleaded with the inspector to file an FIR, he allegedly demanded Rs 60,000. After a few rounds of negotiations, he brought down his demand to Rs 15,000. Ganesan informed the vigilance and anti-corruption police, who laid a trap and caught Sivakumar.

Filing an FIR is the prime duty of the police, the Supreme Court has ruled in several cases. Ironically, the Coimbatore police was the first to launch the facility to deliver FIRs to the doorstep of complainants.