TN ex-DGP held over estranged wife’s plaint

Rajesh Das was booked for trespass and criminal intimidation. He was later granted bail after he cited health reasons

Police on Friday arrested Tamil Nadu’s former special director general of police (DGP) Rajesh Das after a complaint was filed by his estranged wife and senior IAS officer Beela Venkatesan for allegedly trespassing into her property. He was later granted bail.

IAS officer Beela Venkatesan had filed an FIR on May 21 alleging that Rajesh Das and his men had trespassed into the premises of her residence in Thaiyur (PTI)

The Supreme Court had last week stayed his arrest in a sexual harassment case in which he was convicted on charges of sexually harassing a junior IPS officer in 2021.

Police arrested Das from his residence in Kelambakkam on the IT corridor. He was booked for trespass and criminal intimidation. “He was released on bail later after he cited health reasons,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.

State’s energy secretary Beela Venkatesan had filed a complaint on May 21 alleging that Das and his men had trespassed into the premises of her residence in Thaiyur (in the outskirts of the city) and intimidated the security personnel on duty. The incident comes on the heels of Das accusing his estranged wife of disconnecting power supply to his residence by abusing her position of power.

Beela had justified the action saying she had the right to disconnect the power supply as the connection was in her name. The couple is separated and Beela has filed for divorce.

Last June, the chief judicial magistrate at Villupuram, convicted and sentenced Das to three years’ imprisonment for sexually harassing a woman superintendent of police (SP) while on duty in February 2021. He filed an appeal before the trial court in Villupuram which also upheld his conviction and sentence.

The incident took place when the two were accompanying then Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami during an official visit to Karur district. According to the officer’s complaint, Das, who accompanied her in a car, harassed her around 7.40pm on February 21, two months before assembly elections in the state, when they were travelling from Karur to Namakkal district. Das was suspended in March 2021 on the recommendation of the ECI.

The other accused in the case, D Kannan, then SP of Chengalpattu district, was let off with a fine of ₹500 after being found guilty of preventing the woman SP from entering Chennai while she was on her way to the then Tamil Nadu DGP J K Tripathy to file the complaint. The manner in which the woman IPS officer was prevented from entering the city by a posse of police officers with a striking force caught the attention of justice Anand Venkatesh of the Madras HC who had taken up suo moto cognisance of the case to monitor its investigation.

After investigating more than 87 witnesses, analysing Das’s phone, the CB-CID filed a 400-page charge sheet against Das and Kannan in Villupuram’s chief judicial magistrate court in June 2021. He got a relief from the SC last week after it stayed his arrest in the sexual harassment case filed in 2021.