Social media post alleges Bengaluru police harassment and bribery demand
A viral social media post on Reddit detailed an incident of alleged police harassment in Karnataka capital Bengaluru. Read here.
A social media post detailing an incident of alleged police harassment and demand for a bribe in Bengaluru has been making the rounds. The post was originally made on the discussion platform Reddit and was reposted to Twitter on Tuesday.

The post, titled ‘Paid 1L to Bangalore police to let us go’, narrates the experience of an unidentified individual who was taken to a police station from the city's Indiranagar area for using an e-cigarette, which is banned in the country.
The user accused Bengaluru cops of demanding a ₹1-lakh bribe and threatening to put them in jail for a year. The user and his friends then ended up paying the entire amount in cash, he said.
Read the post here:

The user also added: “I’m not looking for solution here to get my money back. I have already talked and discussed in detail to 3-4 criminal lawyers about this right after the incident , and I know there’s almost nil chance of seeing the money back. I just wanted to share my experience here.”
READ | 'Humanity failed': Kumaraswamy on police harassing couple with sick child
“It was hell of a scary situation, and not knowing the local language makes it worse too. But yes, need to keep a criminal lawyer on the speed dial if living in Bangalore lol. Also basic rights were out the window since we were not even allowed to make a phone call. Not allowed to even sit,” he continued in a reply to a comment.
The post, reshared on twitter, also garnered a horde of responses.
One social media, the user narrated their own experience.
“Since the IO had demanded a bribe and made efforts to reach us thru his personal email id, we had saved the evidence we had provided. The IO who was promoted as PI was issued a notice to come back and look for them. If not for the evidence we saved they’d have walked away that our samples were never taken. WA conversations came in handy,” a second tweet read.
Top cops Pratap Reddy, Praveen Sood and Alok Kumar did not respond to repeated requests for comment by Hindustan Times.
ABOUT THE AUTHORYamini C SYamini CS is a Senior Content Producer at Hindustan Times with nearly six years of experience in digital journalism. She is part of the India News desk, where she works on a wide range of stories cutting across civic issues, city-based developments, politics, governance, public policy, breaking news, trending topics, and international affairs that have an impact on India. Her role involves tracking fast-moving developments, verifying information from official and on-ground sources, and presenting news in a clear, accessible format for a digital-first audience. A significant part of her work includes handling live blogs during major news events, such as elections, court verdicts, political developments, civic disruptions, protests, weather-related alerts, and unfolding national or international incidents. Through live coverage, she focuses on timely updates to help readers follow complex stories as they evolve. Before moving to the broader India News desk, Yamini was associated with the Bengaluru desk at Hindustan Times, where she extensively covered urban governance, infrastructure, traffic and transport issues, weather events, public grievances, and civic administration in the city. This experience strengthened her grounding in city reporting and sharpened her focus on citizen-centric journalism. She began her career as a correspondent with Reuters after completing a postgraduate diploma in journalism from the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media. Her early training instilled a strong emphasis on accuracy, sourcing, and news ethics, which continue to shape her reporting style. Outside of work, Yamini enjoys reading across genres, listening to music, and spending time with her family, which help her maintain balance in a fast-paced newsroom environment.Read More

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