NAGERCOIL: Vigilance officials have trapped Kanyakumari district crime branch DySP for accepting bribe of Rs 5 lakh from a complainant. Crime Branch Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) K Thangavelu (55), a native of Coimbatore, was arrested by officials led by Kanyakumari Vigilance DySP Peter Paul. The incident took place on Wednesday night.

Incident: The complainant R Sivaguru, a readymade textiles shop owner from Punnai Nagar in Nagercoil, had taken a plot of land near Kuttalam (66) for lease from Ramadas and Ratnaswamy, in 2017. The lease amount was Rs 1.5 crore. When he started constructing a building on this site, the Nagercoil municipality officials denied him permission citing violation of law. With this, he asked the land owners to either return the money or give him another plot. However, as the owners did not agree to provide the money, he lodged a complaint with Badri Narayanan, the former district police chief, in 2020.

Based on this, the Kottar police conducted an investigation but Sivaguru was not satisfied and lodged a complaint with the superintendent of police. Following which, the case was transferred to crime branch deputy superintendent of police K Thangavelu. Thangavelu had demanded Rs 10 lakh to settle the case. However, the land owners had given Sivaguru another plot of land, a few days before. Nevertheless, Thangavelu repeatedly threatened Sivaguru saying that he had got the land through his intervention and that he should pay Rs 5 lakh in return. With this, Sivaguru lodged a complaint with district Vigilance DySP Peter Paul. The officials caught Thangavelu red-handed while accepting bribe in his office, the next day. Vigilance also inspected his house in Ramanpuram. Thangavelu, who was produced before the district judicial court, has been remanded for 15 days.