Chennai, Feb 3 The Madras High Court on Monday granted bail to three Income Tax officers and a Tamil Nadu Police Sub-Inspector accused of robbing a businessman's employee of Rs 20 lakh.
A bench of Justice Sunder Mohan granted bail to Income Tax officers Damodharan, Pradeep, and S.P. Prabhu, and Sub-Inspector Raja Singh, who were arrested by Greater Chennai Police on December 16, 2024.
Their arrest followed a complaint by Mohammed Ghouse, who claimed he was robbed of Rs 20 lakh while carrying the cash on behalf of his employer.
Ghouse worked for Junaid Ahmed, a senior Congress leader from Vaniyambadi and owner of a CT scan centre. Ahmed had entrusted Ghouse with Rs20 lakh to purchase a new CT scanner, instructing him to hand over Rs 10 lakh to an agent in Triplicane.
On December 15, 2024, Ghouse travelled to Chennai and, the next day, was riding his two-wheeler from Old Washermenpet when he was stopped near the Omandurar Government Multi-Specialty Hospital by Traffic SI Raja Singh. Upon seeing the cash, the SI told Ghouse he would inform the Income Tax Department. Shortly after, three men arrived in a car, claiming to be IT officials. They said they would take Ghouse to the Income Tax Department’s office in Nungambakkam. However, once the SI left, the trio instead took Ghouse to a secluded spot near the Egmore Children’s Hospital, threatened him at knife-point, and robbed him of the money.
Following the incident, Ghouse informed his employee, who then lodged a complaint at Triplicane Police Station.
During the bail hearing, the complainant’s counsel opposed the bail applications, arguing that the stolen money had not yet been deposited with the jurisdictional magistrate.
Although the police had recovered the money, it remained undeposited, preventing the complainant from claiming it.
However, Justice Sunder Mohan ruled that the failure to deposit the recovered money could not be grounds to oppose bail. The court directed the police to deposit the money with the magistrate and subsequently granted bail to the accused.
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