Graft, sleaze charges dog top cop

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The Paazee scam, which broke out in Tirupur in 2009-end, was not only about a finance company cheating its investors of hundreds of crores of rupees, promising high rate of interest, but also showed how a select group of policemen, including IPS official Pramod Kumar, then inspector general of police, west zone, blatantly misused their power and collected hush money, estimated at more than Rs 3 crore, from the accused.

There were allegations that some senior police officials had also tried to sexually abuse a woman director of Paazee Forex.

The CBI, asked by the high court a year ago to probe the case, had registered a case against IG Pramod Kumar, now posted as IG, armed police, under various sections including those of Tamil Nadu prohibition of harassment of women Act.

Though the Paazee scam, where 52,000 investors had deposited nearly Rs C650 crore in the company, was initially probed by Tirupur district crime branch, it was later handed over the economic offences wing and CB-CID. CB-CID had arrested an inspector and DSP in connection with the scam.

Though the arrested inspector indicated that he had handed over all the money, collected by him from Paazee directors, to a senior police official, the CB-CID let Pramod Kumar go after one round of questioning.

After CBI began the probe, Pramod Kumar’s residence at SAF games village in Koyambedu, Chennai, and his house in his native Bihar were searched by the sleuths.

The accused official had also tried to get anticipatory bail from the Madras high court which was denied after the CBI informed the court that his custodial interrogation was a must.

After his bail application was rejected, the CBI officials had been on the lookout for him and arrested him on Wednesday in Delhi.

DC played lead role; cbi did a great job

It was Deccan Chronicle that reported in March 2010 about the possible involvement of senior police officers in the Paazee scam when the accused pointed a finger at the officials and said they had received hush money.

After DC carried reports about the cops, the state police headquarters ordered a CB-CID inquiry into the scam and possible involvement of policemen.

Though this newspaper did not name inspector general Pramod Kumar in the reports, the officer came forward on his own to say that the newspaper was referring to him and filed a defamation suit against the paper, claiming Rs 1 crore in damages.

The officer’s petition against DC said he was the recipient of a UN medal for peace-keeping and President’s medal for meritorious service.

A 1989 IPS batch officer, he also said he had an unblemished track record and has never been subjected to any disciplinary proceedings.

However, inquiries, initially by the CB-CID and later by CBI, certainly indicated the involvement of Pramod Kumar, who was IG, west zone, when the Paazee scam surfaced in Tirupur.

“We knew he was involved when we probed the case. But we had our limitations,” said a former CB-CID officer when asked why the agency failed to arrest him.

However, CBI, which systematically probed the case, zeroed in on him and told the high court that the IPS official’s custodial interrogation was needed.

CBI, which began its probe a year back, was facing pressure from various quarters, particularly because the accused was an IPS officer. “But, we decided to go ahead and do our duty,” a CBI officer disclosed.