'You Are Finished': Tamil Nadu district collector threatens cop

Kanchipuram: A bureaucrat in Tamil Nadu abusing and threatening a police officer over devotees being allowed into a VIP enclosure at the Varadaraja Perumal Temple in Kancheepuram district, was caught on camera and the video has gone viral. The district collector reportedly hit out at the cop for allowing devotees to go through without showing passes.

"Did you come to cheat? I'll finish you. What checks are you doing? So many are without passes. When VIPs come, they stand like mud. Senior IPS officers and important ministers are coming. You are finished. You are suspended today," the collector can be seen screaming at the hapless officer, reported NDTV.

Unsatisfied even after pointlessly targeting the cop, the collector than targets the state police, calling them "arrogant".

"You police personnel are arrogant. Where is the Inspector General? Ask him to come. Suspend him. Come what may," he continues.

Throughout the video, the officer can be heard trying to explain but his attempts to do so are rudely brushed aside by the collector. The police officer can then be heard repeatedly apologising, to which the collector snaps back, "What sorry?"

NDTV reported that sources close to the district collector said he was upset over large numbers of devotees being allowed into the VIP enclosure. However, police officials have said the inspector in the video, identified as Ramesh from Tiruvallur district, had only let through an elderly couple who were struggling for "darshan (to pray before the deity)".

Senior police officers of the state, speaking off-the-record, said the district collector had crossed his limits and called his behaviour "high-handed".

The district collector attempted to explain his behaviour on Sunday, saying he had become "emotional" over streamlining the system. "District officials and the police work as a team and there was nothing against an individual officer or the police department," he claimed.

The central deity of the Varadaraja Perumal temple remains immersed in a tank and is only placed for public worship once every forty years, which attracts lakhs of devotees visiting the temple every day during this period.

The district administration has already come under criticism for its management of the devotees, after at least six people died either waiting for or returning from "darshan" last month. The government has denied reports the death were due to a stampede.