Delhi woman alleges harassment and extortion in Bengaluru, one arrested

Latif also alleged the individual demanded ₹1,000 to 'settle the matter without going to the police station'

A Delhi woman's trip to Bengaluru turned 'traumatic' on Sunday after a home gaurd allegedly extorted ₹1,000 - for 'sitting without permission' - while she and a friend were visiting the Kundanahalli Lake. Arsha Latif later tweeted: "Traumatic experience during visit to BLR. During afternoon on 29/1/23, my male friend and I visited Kundanahalli Lake to sit in the shade and enjoy the view. A cop started clicking our pictures and started harassing us that we did not have 'permission' to sit there while there were clearly benches... for general public."

Delhi woman alleges harassment and extortion by a cop in Bengaluru.

Latif said she and her friend harassed and accused their harasser of moral policing. "He started interrogating us about our jobs... hometown... purpose of visit, and said we had to come to the police station with him... pay a fine on grounds of 'sitting' without permission."

"When we asked what we had done wrong... he said, 'you are not allowed to sit here without permission and you may be smoking here'. We told him we don't have any cigarettes and (that) we were just sitting here peacefully but he kept on interrogating us."

Latif also alleged the individual demanded ₹1,000 to 'settle the matter without going to the police station'. "Ultimately, he asked us to pay him off... ₹1,000 to let us go. Absolutely appalled by such behaviour. Why did we have to put up with this moral policing for literally doing nothing wrong?" she asked.

Latif told Hindustan Times, "As a person from Delhi, I had no contact point in Bengaluru or knew the local language to communicate. I wanted to go to the police station and complain but I had to catch a flight back to Delhi. When I said we are running out of cash, the cop made us pay through Paytm."

Bengaluru police arrested an accused who allegedly extorted Latif on Sunday. The accused who is identified as Manjunath Reddy is a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) worker. “I have received an update that the identified person Manjunath Reddy V has been arrested. He works for BBMP- Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike & was impersonating the police to extort money,” said Arsha Latif.

Earlier this month a man from Himachal Pradesh was also allegedly blackmailed and extorted by police in Bengaluru. Two cops were later suspended by the police department.