Cop involved in Madurai firing suspended

MADURAI: A police officer, who had opened fire in Chinthamani grievously injuring two persons was suspended on charges of extortion, here on Thursday.According to a top police official, Lakshmanan (23), a resident of Avaniyapuram, was killed by his family, including his father Mayandi, mother Rajalakshmi, and sibling Balakrishnan in a domestic dispute on September 15.  Police Inspector Gajendran of Avaniyapuram Police station, who had joined duty after undergoing treatment, as he was reportedly injured during a scuffle with Dalits who had come to attend Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran’s memorial day and which had led to the firing in Chinthamani, was the investigation officer in the murder case.Gajendran took custody of one Bharathan, another sibling of the deceased and called the father-in-law of the detained to the police station. Gajendran threatened that he would book Bharathan too in the case as already three of the family members were involved in the killing.In order to let go Bharathan, the Inspector demanded ` 1 lakh and issued threat to the family. As the family could not arrange for  ` 1 lakh, they agreed to pay ` 40,000 as bribe to the Inspector to let go Bharathan.The cop also received ` 10,000 towards miscellaneous expenses during the postmortem and for other legal formalities before releasing Bharathan.The family did not prefer a complaint as they felt that it would only add to their woes. However, an intelligence input was received by Superintendent of Police Asra Garg who ordered a departmental inquiry.Based on the findings of the inquiry, the charges against Gajendran were confirmed. Therefore, the SP recommended that the official be kept under suspension on a temporary basis so as to facilitate departmental inquiry against Gajendran.The recommendation was accepted by Sanjay Mathur, Deputy Inspector General, Dindigul Range, who is also holding additional charge for Madurai Range and the suspension orders were issued.It was said that Gajendran during his tenure as sub-Inspector at Elumalai police station had been suspended in a DVAC case.It maybe recalled that Additional Director General of Police(law and order) S George had visited Gajendran while he was being treated at Apollo Hospital.