Dirty cops used ‘mule’ account to route bribe money

CHENNAI: A former Civil Supplies CID (CSCID) sub-inspector allegedly used a bank account held in another person's name as a "mule" account five years ago to collect, route and conceal monthly bribes from transporters and sellers of essential commodities, according to a Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) investigation.

The Coimbatore DVAC earlier this week booked P Irulappan (41), former CSCID sub-inspector, and R Praveen Kumar (40), a private individual, in connection with the alleged bribery racket.

A former CSCID head constable, V Rajkumar, who was also named as an accused, died in October 2021.

The DVAC alleged that the bank account and ATM card in Praveen's name were effectively controlled by Irulappan to receive and conceal illegal monthly payments. The account had a balance of Rs 5.74 lakh on August 26, 2021.

Irulappan allegedly told investigators that Rs 1.5 lakh belonged to Praveen, while the remaining amount represented "mamool" collected from transporters and others.

The alleged racket involved demanding monthly payments from transporters and sellers of essential commodities in return for not booking cases against them under the Essential Commodities Act.

The case originated from a 2021 complaint and a trap operation in which Rs 40,000 and a handwritten list of transporters and sellers, containing the amounts allegedly collected from them, were recovered from Rajkumar.

Another Rs 30,000 and the ATM card in Praveen's name were recovered from Irulappan.

The DVAC has booked Irulappan under Sections 120B and 213 of the IPC and Section 7 (a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Praveen has been booked under Section 7 (a) read with Section 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The accused were booked in 2021 by the DVAC in the trap case based on a complaint of demanding ‘mamool’ from a trader for permitting him to conduct the business of collecting waste oil from auto carriage workshops in Coimbatore.

The latest case originated from the earlier case investigation.