Coimbatore City Crime Branch books Police Inspector for extortion, wrongful confinement

Acting on a High Court directive to submit a status report regarding a case registered against a realtor in 2024, the City Crime Branch police have registered a case against the then Inspector of Selvapuram Police under Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which pertains to police procedures for lodging complaints.

The Inspector, Selvaraj, was booked under Sections 308(6) and 127(2) that relate to extortion and wrongful confinement respectively, based on a petition submitted in the High Court by the realtor, B. Somasundaram (58) of Sivananda Colony, that he was forcibly taken from his house for an inquiry into a “false complaint” by a police team led by the Inspector.

On September 13, a case was registered by the Selvapuram police against the petitioner under Sections 406 and 420 of IPC, based on a complaint lodged by one Muthukumar that he was cheated of 1,250 grams of gold during 2017.

The contention of the petitioner was that he was taken under “illegal custody” and that valuables (1200 grams of gold) were taken by threat and coercion. The police had, on September 12, 2024, confined the petitioner till 3 p.m. in the police stationand threatened him with remand if he did not budge to the demand of settlement.

The realtor, a heart patient, was released at 4 p.m. only after the gold ingots he had borrowed from a jeweller friend in duress were handed over to the police, according to the petition.

A notice under Section 41 A was also served on him the next day requiring his appearance for investigation.

The counsel for the petitioner had argued that the case was fabricated, and sought legal action against those who had acted outside the framework of law in handling the case.

The petitioner had approached the High Court since there was no action on a complaint he had lodged on September 17, 2024, with the City Crime Branch police about the travails he had undergone in Selvapuram Police Station.

The petitioner’s counsel had sought punishment for Inspector Selvaraj under BNS Sections 61(2) dealing with criminal conspiracy, 329 (criminal trespass), 127 (wrongful confinement), and 308 (extortion).

The High Court also took cognisance of the representation made by the petitioner’s counsel that Inspector Selvaraj had indulged in a similar act in an earlier case, a writ on which was also pending in the Court.

The High Court had directed the registry to tag the earlier case also for hearing on November 27.