Murder accused tied to coal smuggling ring

CHENNAI: A special police team investigating a murder has stumbled on a nexus between personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and truck drivers involved in smuggling coal from the harbour in Chennai. On Tuesday three people were arrested for the murder of 40-year old Murthy on August 19. The body of the former truck driver with its throat slit was found at a lodge in Triplicane. A native of Dindigul, he was living with his family in Mehta Nagar, Choolaimedu.  With Murthy’s former business partner Raj Kumar and his friends - Bala alias Balakrishnan and Venkatesan - emerging the main suspects in the case, a special police team led by ACP (Triplicane) S Senthil Kumaran was formed to nab them.  On Tuesday, they were arrested in Triplicane and grilled by the cops to establish the motive behind the crime.  “Murthy slapped Rajkumar during a verbal altercation, after which, Rajkumar roped in Bala and Venkatesan to finish him off,” the told Express.Inquiries revealed that their enmity had a long history.Murthy was the owner of two lorries. While he drove one,  the other was operated by Rajkumar to ferry goods from Chennai Harbour.  After losses in the business, Murthy sold his lorries and held Rajkumar responsible for his plight.  Further investigations revealed a nexus between the CISF personnel manning the harbour gates and lorry driver who smuggled coal. As per procedure, lorries transporting goods from the harbour are given vehicle passes, a senior police official said.  Once a seal is stamped on the pass by the Central Industrial Security Force guards, the passes stand cancelled.  However, men like Bala had developed contact with the guards, who would hand over some passes to him without stamping the seal.Bala, in turn, would pass them on to Rajkumar to gain entry into the harbour, load the vehicles with coal and drive out.  According to the ACP, “The gang smuggled three or four loads of coal every week using this  modus operandi. Each load was worth `1.2 lakh.”  The clandestine operation went on for the last three or four years and Murthy was also involved in it, he added.  The smuggled coal would later be sold in brick kilns or steel roller firms and iron melting plants.