Vellore: DSP demands bribe for sand mining, arrested

Vellore: The DVAC police on Thursday nabbed a Deputy Superintendent of police who allegedly demanded bribe for allowing mining of river sand at Ambur.

Locals reacted in glee by bursting crackers and raising slogans on the streets damning the arrested officer.

DSP Dhanraj in charge of Ambur town had allegedly demanded bribe of '1.45 lakh from a sand dealer named Panneerselvam. “He had asked for '20,000 for each tipper-truck, making a total of '1,20,000 for the six trucks of sand the dealer had taken from the river bed. He then added '25,000 as Pongal gift and made the a total billing of '1.45 lakh,” said a police source.

He said the DSP told Panneerselvam that he would be sending his 
sub-inspector by name Lourde Jayaraj for collecting the ‘mamool’. The sand dealer informed the cops of the Directorate of Vigilance and anti-corruption who swung into action to nab the corrupt DSP. “The DVAC officers gave the dealer the money applied with a chemical to get the DSP’s fingerprint while receiving it.

Even as the DSP was receiving the money from his SI, the DVAC sleuths hiding nearby grabbed him,” said the source.

DSP Dhanraj and SI Jayaraj have been arrested and remanded to custody by a local magistrate.

Several locals celebrated the arrest of the DSP by bursting crackers and raising slogans damning him as ‘corrupt’.

One of them told reporters that criminals thrived under the DSP’s patronage-he said there was rampant bootlegging, illegal lottery and drug-trafficking, besides theft of several temple hundials.