WALL - A former police officer whose lawsuit alleged that his supervisor forced him to make a sex tape has reached a half-million dollar settlement with the township.

The township committee has unanimously approved the settlement with Suresh Madhavan, who sued the town after he was fired in July 2016.

The township will be responsible for $100,000 of the settlement cost. The town's insurance carriers are paying the remainder.

Madhavan, an Indian American, accused the department of rampant discrimination and a host of wrongful conduct.

The maltreatment included other officers' frequently referring to him in racist terms, including the N-word, as a "monkey" and other animals, and calling him "Benson," a reference to a black 1970s-era sitcom character who played a butler.

Madhavan also alleged that he was repeatedly passed over for promotions in favor of white colleagues and subject to disparate treatment.

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But the crux of the lawsuit hinged on the allegation that a sergeant, one of his superiors, showed up to Madhavan's home while drunk and demanded he film a sexual encounter between the sergeant and the sergeant's mistress.

Below, a gallery of photos from another lawsuit alleging racism in the Wall Township Police Department.

Madhavan protested but eventually filmed a 6-second clip, which he said was shown to the sergeant and deleted.

It was an internal affairs investigation into the sex tape claim that led to Madhavan's termination. His supervisors accused him of lying during the probe. Madhavan denied the charge. He also alleged he was treated differently than his white coworkers.

The case comes on the heels of another big discrimination payout involving the town.

In May, the township committee approved a $1.25 million settlement with Brandon Jacobs, a Jewish township employee who accused coworkers of repeatedly making anti-Semitic comments toward him and leaving books about Nazism on his desk.

History: A look back at Wall's racist past

Jeffrey Downs, an attorney representing Madhavan, declined to comment on the case until the settlement is signed by all parties.

At the committee's Jan. 22 meeting, township business administrator Jeff Bertrand said the settlement was reached as a way to avoid paying further legal fees and, if the town lost during a trial, much more money to Madhavan himself.

"The township is not admitting anything went wrong. In fact, it's the township's position that the township didn't do anything wrong," he said. "It gets down to this question: Do you want to roll the dice and see if you can potentially win the whole thing? Or do you want to pay a little bit and cut the losses?"

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The town is also facing a lawsuit from Nicholas Curcio, a former communications supervisor with the department.

Curcio alleged that his coworkers referred to him as "half-black" because of his darker, Italian complexion and mocked his Type I diabetes, which has led to discoloration in his legs.

Police employees posted numerous racist drawings throughout the department, including numerous references to the Ku Klux Klan and images referring to Curcio as an ape, Curcio alleged in his complaint.

Curcio was placed on unpaid leave in August 2016 after he was indicted on charges of official misconduct, improperly using a police database, online stalking and impersonating another person. He was acquitted in February 2019.

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is happening. Contact him at 732-643-4223, mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.