Tamil Nadu Director General of Police Sandeep Rai Rathore has directed Chennai Police Commissioner Abin Dinesh Modak to conduct a detailed inquiry and submit a report after a case was registered in Rajasthan against Chennai police personnel.
The developments follow a robbery of about two kilograms of gold jewellery from a shop on N.S.C. Bose Road in Chennai’s Elephant Gate area last month. During the probe, Elephant Gate Crime Branch police identified two Rajasthan natives—Shaktisingh (26), who worked at the shop, and his associate Lakshmanan Singh (27)—as the suspects.
A Chennai special team travelled to Pali district in Rajasthan and arrested Lakshmanan Singh. Police said his interrogation revealed that he had sent money to Vardharam Gurjar, a jewellery shop owner in Rajasthan.
To question Vardharam, Chennai special team personnel identified as Siva and Gopi went to Rajasthan and questioned him at the Bagri police station before sending him away. Later, Vardharam allegedly consumed poison and died, while his brother Budharam also consumed poison and is hospitalised in a critical condition.
Vardharam’s wife, Kiran Devi, lodged a complaint alleging that the Chennai policemen and a jewellery shop owner named Mahaveer Mehta, who accompanied them, threatened Vardharam, including demanding one kilogram of gold. Based on the complaint, Rajasthan Police registered a case against Siva, Gopi, Mahaveer Mehta and two unidentified persons under sections including abetment to suicide.
