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Fake stamp paper scam
 The fake stamp paper scam which rocked the country has also popped up its ugly head in Tamil Nadu. The scam, which runs to several thousands of crores all over India, exposed the transaction of several hundreds of crores in Tamil Nadu. Nijamudeen was arrested by the CB-CID of police officials in Chennai last year with several hundred crore worth fake stamp papers, but was let off by the CB-CID officials without registering any case.
Subsequently, the Karnataka Police arrested Nijamudeen in Tamil Nadu with fake stamp papers worth several hundred crores and he has given a statement that he had given several to the extent of several lakh Rupees as bribes to IG, CB-CID Ameeth Verma and DIG, CB-CID Mohamad Ali, when he was arrested by the CB-CID,
Chennai.
The superintendent. of police, CB-CID, Chennai, Sandeep Rathore, had written a letter to the ADGP (crime), charging that Ameeth Verma and Mohamad Ali had not shown any interest to register a case against Nijamudeen and seize the fake documents when he was being interrogated.
A public interest litigation (PIL) petition was filed in the Madras High Court seeking a CBI inquiry by filing all the above documents. When the case came up for hearing in the court, the Government of Tamil Nadu informed the court that the government had decided to order a CBI inquiry.
While analysing the entire issue, several factors raise suspicion about the role of the government and the Tamil Nadu police.
 1. When SP, CB-CID Sandeep Rathore had written an accusing letter to the ADGP (Crime) against the two top officials of the CB-CID, it was Sandeep Rathore who was transferred from the CB-CID instead of an investigation being launched into the serious allegations against the two officials.
2. When a PIL was filed in the High Court on this issue, the government had stated in its affidavit that the letter purported to have been written by Sandeep Rathore was forged. Had it been so, only Sandeep Rathore should have given the denial stating that the letter was not written by him. While he has remained silent about the letter, the government chose to make a claim.
3. While a CBI inquiry has been ordered, the government should have transferred both the 'tainted' officials immediately from the Crime Branch-CID. While those two officials still remain in their posts, can we expect a fair trail? In the case of any other accused, there would be fear of evidence being tampered with.
4. When the allegations came to light through a PIL in the High Court, instead of transferring these two officials, the department had transferred a DSP and an inspector who are in no way connected with the scam as Nijamudeen had pointed his accusing finger only at the two top police officials.
5. A Tamil daily had recently reported that the ADGP (Crime) has been probing the issue thoroughly but the two 'tainted' officials were not only putting hurdles in his way but also secretly threatened that they would get him transferred.
 Many in the police department wonder why the two 'tainted' officials are being protected? Was it because they had played a crucial role while arresting former chief minister M Karunanidhi? Instead of punishing the officials, the government has decided to promote Mohamad Ali as inspector general of police and the paper has been sent to the Election Commission for clearance, it is learnt.
The scam has not only caused severe loss to the government revenue, but also created a sense of insecurity among the citizens. Many who have registered their property fear that they might have inadvertently used fake stamp papers.
The entire nation has been treating the issue seriously and the Maharashtra government has even arrested Mumbai city police commissioner R K Sharma. The Tamil Nadu government should also take steps to book the culprits.
The scam also had exposed another important issue, i.e, the corruption among IPS officers. The media as well as the public are only aware of the petty corrupt activities of a traffic policeman getting a bribe and other policemen collecting mamools from various sources.
 But there is rampant corruption among the IPS officers which go unnoticed by everyone. An IPS officer who was the ex-commissioner of Chennai had built a house in Chennai at a cost of more than one crore rupees. Some north Indian IPS officers from Tamil Nadu had bought several crores worth properties in their native place regarding which a probe by the vigilance and anti-corruption wing was pending.
Some of the IPS officers own several estates, farm houses and luxurious bungalows. It is high time that corrupt IPS officers should be dealt with and their ill-gotten property should be confiscated. But most of them easily evade punishment due to their proximity to higher level politicians and it is only the lower level policemen who used to be punished for their petty corrupt activities. Large scale corruption and higher level police officers are always left untouched. That is the way of the police department.
Harvey
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