10 June,2011 06:26 AM IST | | Imran Gowhar
Manager of a private firm has tiff over trivial matter in dhaba and loses Rs 70,000; goes to cops to report loss, but is detained and told to pay Rs 10,000 as fee for release
The manager of a private firm went through a harrowing experience late on Wednesday evening, as a party he was at with a few friends, went nightmarishly wrong for him initially, but turned equally bad for two constables from Nelamangala police station, who were nabbed by the Lokayukta later.
Mahesh Kumar was at Viji Dhaba and had a tiff with the hotel staff over a trivial matter. Little did he know that the events that followed would leave him with a loss of Rs 70,000 and an exasperating wait at the Nelamangala police station when he went to report his loss.
The cops instead of registering a complaint detained him on the pretext of questioning. Adding to his woes, when Mahesh told the cops he wanted to go home, they said that he was under detention and demanded Rs 10,000 for his release.
Agitated by the events, the victim sought the help of Lokayukta police who laid a trap and nabbed two police constables red- handed while they were accepting the bribe.
Guilty as charged?
Police constables Girish and Jayaramu, who were present in the police station, started questioning him as though he was a suspect. "They started interrogating me asking where I got such a large amount of cash from and whether I was involved in illegal activities," Mahesh said.
"I tried to reply, but they were in no mood to listen and treated me like a suspect and detained me on the pretext of investigations," Mahesh added.u00a0 After a few hours of waiting patiently, Mahesh decided to teach the unscrupulous cops a lesson and convinced them that he would arrange the cash if he was allowed to speak to a friend.
Trap is set
Allowed to make the call, Mahesh explained the situation to a friend and asked him to seek the help of Lokayukta. As per plan, Mahesh bargained and brought down the amount to Rs 8,000. When the deal was clinched, Mahesh informed his friend to come to the station with the money and a team of Lokayukta sleuths followed behind. As per instructions from the Lokayukta sleuths, the currency notes were smeared with a chemical and the duo were caught red handed while accepting the money. The duo were booked under Prevention of Corruption Act and remanded to judicial custody, SP (Bangalore rural) D T Srinivas said.
"We are also investigating why a complaint has not been filed against the hotel staff and will ascertain whether the police have nexus with them," Srinivas said.
