The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on disciplinary proceedings initiated against suspended Inspector of Police S. Vasanthi, who was booked for extortion.
Justice B. Pugalendhi sought a counter affidavit from the State on the petition filed by Vasanthi, who sought the disciplinary proceedings initiated against her to be kept in abeyance till the disposal of the criminal case against her.
The petitioner said a charge memo was served on her seeking an explanation. She said she had made a representation to the authorities explaining that both the departmental proceedings and the criminal case had arisen from the same incident. If the departmental inquiry proceeded earlier it would cause her hardship. The request was denied by the authorities, she said.
Vasanthi, who was attached to Nagamalai Pudukkottai police station, was booked on a complaint lodged by a tailor, K. Asrath, that his bag containing ₹10 lakh was taken away from him by the Inspector and the money was not returned.
He said he raised a loan of ₹10 lakh to set up a tailoring unit, but needed more money. Under these circumstances, a group had offered to help him get a loan. Later, a few members of the group returned to the lodge, where he was staying, with Inspector Vasanthi.
It was said that Vasanthi picked them up for an inquiry, but dropped Asrath midway. When Asrath went to the police station to inquire about the bag the next day, he was told that it contained only newspapers.
However, Vasanthi denied the allegations levelled against her and said she had visited the spot based on secret information about exchange of fake currency notes. Following an inquiry, she released the group as the bag contained no incriminating materials, she said.
