The special court for the trial of cases, investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in Coimbatore on Thursday dismissed a discharge petition filed by IPS officer Pramod Kumar in an extortion case pending against him since 2012, which is linked to the multi-crore Paazee forex scam.
Dismissing the petition, S. Govindharajan directed all the five accused in the case, including Mr. Kumar, to appear before the court for the framing of charges in the case on November 28 without fail.
Public prosecutor Surendra Mohan, who appeared for the CBI, said that the Madras High Court had directed the special court in September to frame charges against the accused and to proceed with the trial from November 4.
As Mr. Kumar failed to appear before the court, the judge issued a non-bailable warrant against him on October 25. The officer appeared before the court on October 27, following which the NBW was recalled on the condition that he should appear before the court on November 4. The officer had also submitted a discharge petition before the court on October 27, which was dismissed on Thursday.
The extortion case is linked to another case registered by the Tiruppur Central Crime Branch against Paazee Forex Trading India Private Limited in 2009 for having cheated depositors to the tune of ₹ 930.71 crore.
Mr. Kumar, who is now posted as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited at Karur, is the first accused in the extortion case. N. Rajendran, who worked as deputy superintendent of police at Tiruppur town; V. Mohanraj, who was inspector of Central Crime Branch at Tiruppur; John Prabakar alias Annachi, a friend of the IPS officer from Mylapore; and N. Senthil Kumar, a resident of Tiruppur, are the other accused.
A. Kamalavalli, one of the directors of Paazee Forex Trading India Private Limited, had gone missing and later appeared before the police on her own. It was alleged she was abducted and released on payment of a few crores of rupees as ransom and also to help the firm in the scam. The accused officers were allegedly involved in the crime.
