CHENNAI: Thoothukudi police on Thursday filed an FIR against four persons, including a police personnel, for allegedly issuing death threats to a bar owner with murder and demanding that he hand over the bar to them.
The accused police personnel, Ben Singh, a native of Thoothukudi, is currently working in the police department in Tirupattur district.
Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police R Shiva Prasad had sent a report on the alleged involvement of Ben Singh in the incident to Tirupattur SP Akshay Anil Wakhare.
The FIR was registered under Sections 308(4), 351(3) and 296(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 294 of the IPC against the four accused involved in the case.
Kannan, a resident of Levinchipuram in Thoothukudi, runs a TASMAC bar in the Sivandhakullam area on his own property. His son, Venkatesh, manages the bar.
According to the complaint, Ben Singh, along with his friends Madhan, who runs a bar in the Muthiahpuram area, and local rowdies Joshua and Ramesh, had been threatening Venkatesh and demanding that he hand over the bar to Madhan.
The complaint further stated that the four accused had allegedly visited the bar at night on several occasions and taken Rs 50,000 kept there. On October 5, Madhan, Joshua and Ramesh allegedly threatened Venkatesh with a knife and told him to hand over the bar to them and leave, failing which they would kill him and his family. They allegedly then locked the bar and took away the keys, the complaint stated.
Following the incident, Venkatesh lodged a complaint with the Thenpagam police and handed over CCTV footage. Police subsequently registered a case and launched an investigation.
In his complaint, Venkatesh alleged that Ben Singh also threatened him through WhatsApp.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Venkatesh appeared at the Thoothukudi District Superintendent of Police’s office and submitted a petition seeking protection. He stated that he feared for his life and that he was legally operating the bar on his own property after obtaining it through a tender and regularly paying the required amount to the government.
A source claims that Ben Singh and Madhan were also allegedly jointly running a gambling club in the Mappillaiurani area of Thoothukudi and a bar in Muthiahpuram.