Former Tamil Nadu DGP Rajesh Das arrested over charges of trespass, intimidation

Das, who was convicted by a court in a sexual harassment case filed by a woman IPS officer in 2021, was arrested on Friday morning from his residence in Kelambakkam on the IT corridor. He was booked for trespass and criminal intimidation.

Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) Rajesh Das was on Friday arrested based on a complaint by his estranged wife and senior IAS officer Beela Venkatesan that he trespassed into her property in Thaiyur on the outskirts of the city.

Das, convicted by a court in a sexual harassment case filed by a woman IPS officer in 2021, was arrested by the Tambaram City Police from his residence in Kelambakkam on the IT Corridor. He was booked for trespass and criminal intimidation. 

Beela Venkatesan and Rajesh Das were married but the former has filed for a divorce from the latter.  

Beela, the state’s Energy Secretary, in her complaint on May 21 alleged that Das and his men had trespassed into the premises of her residence in Thaiyur and intimidated the security personnel on duty. Das had earlier accused his estranged wife of abusing her official position and disconnecting the power supply to his residence. 

As the suspension of the power supply led to a row, Beela justified the action saying she had the right to disconnect the power supply as the connection was in her name. 

Das, a 1989 batch IPS officer, was accused of sexually harassing a woman police officer in February 2021 when they were on official duty during the then chief minister’s visit to a district in central Tamil Nadu. He was suspended by the government immediately after the IPS officer complained against him and voluntarily retired by the government in 2023 months before his retirement.

The former top cop was also accused of preventing the woman police officer from reaching Chennai to file a formal complaint with the then Home Secretary. He got relief from the Supreme Court last week after it stayed his arrest in the sexual harassment case filed in 2021.