Chennai inspector held for extorting businessman over Armstrong case

CHENNAI: A Greater Chennai Police inspector was arrested based on allegations by a businessman who accused the inspector of extorting several lakhs by threatening to implicate him in the 2024 Armstrong murder case.

Akil Kumar (35), a share market trader from Washermenpet, approached the city police headquarters claiming that inspector Muhammed Buhari of the St Thomas Mount Police Station, has been repeatedly demanding money from him over the past two years citing a mobile number linked to the businessman which has come up during investigations into BSP leader Armstrong's murder case.

He stated that he had shared the mobile number with an acquaintance, a lawyer, and had no connection with the murder case. He alleged that Buhari demanded several lakhs to spare him from being named as an accused and collected more money on different occasions.

Last Saturday, Buhari allegedly visited the complainant's house under the pretext of an enquiry and demanded Rs 5 lakh, which was handed over to a home guard, Srinivasan, near the Washermenpet metro railway station.

After investigations, the Elephant Gate police registered a case and arrested Buhari and Srinivasan. The arrested persons were produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.

It is to be noted that Buhari was involved in the police shooting of Thiruvenkadam, one of the suspects in the Armstrong murder case. Buhari was also involved in a subsequent police shooting, in which a suspect allegedly involved in a series of chain snatchings in Chennai was shot dead in March 2025.

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over investigations into the murder of BSP state leader K Armstrong.