Three men in khaki held in extortion case-ToI-26.9.11

Threaten Businessman’s Aides, Snatch 12 L
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: In a major embarrassment to the force in khaki, three police constables were arrested for extorting Rs 12 lakh cash from employees of a Mumbaibased businessman. The arrested trio included Sultan Bazaar police station constable Mahesh Yadav, Shah Ali Banda constable S Mahesh Kumar and Central Crime Station (CCS) constable Nagesh Goud.
On Friday evening, the trio intercepted a car on Road Number 36, Jubilee Hills. Two persons__Sailesh and Vishnu__were in the car with Rs 24 lakh cash. According to police, they were drivers of Mumbaibased plastic merchant Ashok. The two were in the city to collect money from local businessman who had purchased goods from their employer.
The three policemen had gathered specific information about the movement of Ashok’s men in the city and intercepted them near Peddamma temple. When they were stopped, one of the drivers in the car immediately called citybased merchant Vishnu Solanki, who was one of Ashok’s customers in the city.
The constables spoke to Solanki on phone and asked him to come near the Jubilee Hills police station immediately. When Solanki reached the spot, the trio demanded that the entire amount be handed over to them or else they would be arrested. When Solanki raised doubts about their identity, the trio produced their ID cards and also gave three mobile numbers.
Finally, when Solanki refused to give any share, the policemen managed to take half the cash by force and left the spot. Nearly 10 traders from Begum Bazaar, including Solanki, were among those who had given the money to Ashok’s men.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the three policemen had assumed that the businessmen were using hawala channel for money transactions, an investigating official said. Thinking that they had intercepted “black money” being transferred, the cops thought the businessmen would not dare approach police. However, on learning about the incident from Solanki, Ashok landed in the city and lodged a complaint with the Jubilee Hills police on Saturday.
Using the information provided by Solanki, police zeroed in on the trio and took them into custody. A case was slapped against the three under Section 384 (Extortion) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The investigation is on as police are still verifying the role of a CCS home guard in the incident. “We have recovered Rs four lakh from the trio and efforts are on to get back the remaining amount,” the Jubilee Hills police said.