The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police has placed under suspension Inspector of Police, attached to the India’s Mandapam Police Station, for allegedly demanding a bribe from a notorious criminal who has links to Sri Lanka in a bid to help him secure anticipatory bail in a criminal case.

Acting on the recommendation of Superintendent of Police (SP) N M Manivannan, DIG Anand Kumar Somani ordered the suspension of A. Danapalan, The Hindu newspaper reported.

“It is highly reprehensible and unbecoming of a police officer to have contact with the criminal from November 1 to December 10, 2015. He demanded Rs 50,000 and new tyres for his car for doing him a favour in connection with his bail application,” the DIG said in his suspension order.

The order was served on the Inspector of police on Saturday. The nexus between the police officer and the criminal, who was arrested during a vehicle check here on December 12, came to light when police interrogated him after his arrest, the SP told The Hindu on Sunday.

The accused R Selvakumar (33), who acted as a kingpin of a gang which smuggled narcotics to Sri Lanka, faced about a dozen cases. He had been evading arrest and the Mandapam Inspector of Police helped him to be at large, he said.

The accused, who hailed from Rameswaram, came on police radar in 2008, when he came in contact with an agent of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and started smuggling batteries, motors and other goods for the organisation.

He was arrested in 2008 under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act and under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Act in December 2009 by the CID wing of the Narcotics Intelligence Bureau (NIB) when he attempted to smuggle a kg of heroin, police said.

-Agencies