3 B'luru cops bring shame, booked for extortion in Delhi

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: When cops turn extortionists, there is nothing much the common citizen can do but ponder over what's happening to a force which is supposed to prevent crime and maintain law and order.

In a severe embarrassment to the Karnataka police department, three policemen attached to VV Puram police station in the city, were booked for extortion and criminal conspiracy by who else but Delhi police for allegedly attempting to extort a businessman of Rs 25 lakh in the national capital.

The accused officers were identified as Sathish, Basavraj Patil and S Muthuraju, all from Bengaluru. The ordeal began when an electrical goods dealer in the city, Bittu, who was carrying boxes of cables to his shop on SP Road, was intercepted by a person claiming to be a private investigation officer who insisted on checking the cables.

After checking them, Bittu was taken to VV Puram police station along with the cable boxes. During the inquiry, Bittu told the cops that he had placed an order for the cables from a dealer in Delhi following which he got them delivered to his place. Stating that the cables were fake, the police booked Bittu, the Delhibased dealer Panjak Jain and his relative, under sections of the Copyright Violation Act.

Pankaj Jain, who was unaware of the incident in Bengaluru, was at his factory in Delhi, when he received a call from Bittu saying that he was visiting his manufacturing unit. According to sources, within a few minutes, Bittu entered Jain's office along with three other men who introduced themselves as Karnataka policemen.

Sources said that the men showed Pankaj Jain a paper with text written in Kannada and stated that it was an arrest warrant for Jain and his cousin, Parul, who was pregnant. The cops said that they had come to take them to Bengaluru.

It was alleged that the officers took away the mobile phones of Jain and Parul and also disconnected the landlines at the office. Further, the cops told them that they were going to seal the factory and freeze both their bank accounts.

Though Parul was pregnant and could not travel, the officers allegedly insisted that both of them come to Bengaluru for an inquiry. After repeated pleas by Jain, one of the officers, Satish, allegedly struck a deal with him saying that the arrest could be evaded if Jain could arrange Rs 25 lakh. 

Concerned about his reputation in the business, Jain negotiated with the cops and the amount was brought down to Rs 20 lakh. The policemen insisted that the money be sent to their associate in Bengaluru.

Jain then dialed his business associate, Patel, who has links with rich traders in Bengaluru. Patel agreed to send the amount to the associate but asked Jain to send whatever cash he had along with a post dated cheque. Jain asked his driver to immediately deliver Rs 7 lakh and a cheque for Rs 13 lakh to Patel.

Patel who is reportedly an influential individual, rang up a Karnataka minister’s office narrating the ordeal following which the policemen at Jain’s office received a call saying that Jain is using his influence to evade arrest, sources said. Furious at this, the policemen started abusing Jain after which Jain agreed to get arrested.

Meanwhile, the episode took a different turn when an employee at Jain’s factory informed Jain’s wife about the incident after which the woman called up her relative, Manish, who is said to be a government employee. Manish in turn, called up an Station House Officer at Seemapuri police station and a team of the beat police reached Jain’ factory.

As the beat police intervened, the three cops changed their colours and told Delhi police that all they wanted to do was ask Jain to appear before an investigating office in Bengaluru and not to arrest him.

After confirming their identities, the accused were taken to Karnataka Bhavan and left Delhi on December 30. However, according to sources, the Delhi police is yet to take legal action against the detained cops.