DSP suspended for not verifying details of passport applicants

A Deputy Superintendent of Police has been placed under suspension by Tamil Nadu Home Department for not properly verifying background details of six persons, who had applied for passport under Tatkal Scheme, and charged with allowing one of them, a crime accused, to escape.
Officials said today that Thangavelu, now DSP of Tirumangalam in Madurai district, did not care to even verify the genuineness of the address of an applicant when he was Inspector of Dindigul Police Station in 2009.
The particular applicant, involved in a major crime, had escaped to a foreign country, using the passport he had obtained by giving false address, the officials said.

Lookout notice had also been issued against the applicant, the officials said, adding, the DSP had been charged with allowing an accused to escape.
Police had registered cases against DSP and two other officials. The DSP was suspended last night, sources said.