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Chandigarh: Sub-inspector sacked for extorting ₹1 crore from Bathinda businessman
Posted as additional station house officer at the Sector 39 police station, Chandigarh, sub-inspector Naveen Phogat was on Sunday dismissed from service once again; he was recently reinstated after being acquitted of raping a Mumbai-based model
In more embarrassment for Chandigarh Police, a sub-inspector (SI), along with three others, has been booked for kidnapping a Bathinda-based businessman and extorting ₹1.01 crore from him by threatening to kill him.
Posted as additional station house officer (SHO) at the Sector 39 police station, SI Naveen Phogat was on Sunday dismissed from service once again. He was recently reinstated after being acquitted of raping a Mumbai-based model.
The other accused include Sarvesh of Bathinda, who is into the business of currency exchange, and Gill and Jitender, both of Phase 11, Mohali. Jitender runs an immigration consultancy in Aerocity, Mohali, said police.
Currently on the run, Naveen had escaped from the police station on Saturday, after the victim, Sanjay Goyal, arrived to lodge complaint.
Naveen, along with the other accused, is facing a case under Sections 365 (kidnapping), 386 (extortion), 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, registered at the same police station he was posted at. Raids are on to arrest all accused involved.
“There is zero tolerance for any kind of corruption or misuse of power in the force. We have dismissed Phogat from service. We have recovered ₹75 lakh of the total money extorted from the businessman,” said senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kanwardeep Kaur on Sunday.
She added, “His departmental inquiry initiated after being accused of rape and misconduct is pending.”
Was called to Chandigarh to exchange ₹2,000 notes: Victim
The victim, Sanjay Goyal, deals in wholesale of split chickpeas (chana dal) in Bathinda.
In his complaint to police, Goyal alleged on Friday, he received a call from his friend, Sarvesh, who runs a money exchange firm, stating that his acquaintance was looking to exchange ₹2,000 notes and directed him to meet Jitender.
Carrying ₹1.01 crore cash in ₹500 denomination, Goyal said, he along with his acquaintance, Raj Kumar, left in Kumar’s Honda City for Chandigarh around 2.45 pm.
They met Jitender in Aerocity, Mohali, from where they followed his Mercedes to Sector 40, Chandigarh. Two men were already sitting in Jitender’s car. As they parked their cars, Goyal said Jitender, along with a man addressed as “Gill saab”, sat in their Honda City. After checking the money, Jitender made a phone call to someone to come and collect it.
‘Threatened to kill us, implicate in drug case’
Soon after, around 7.30 pm, three men — one in uniform, one wearing khaki trousers and another in jeans — turned up, and Jitender and Gill left.
Goyal said the man in uniform tapped on the car’s trunk to open it, while the one wearing khaki trousers took the car’s keys, and the third took their mobile phones and put them on flight mode.
The trio took the cash and the car to a nearby beat box, where they sought their documents and threatened to kill them when they resisted, alleged Goyal. The man in khaki trousers then left with the ₹1.01 crore in a Renault Duster, while the others followed him to a secluded area near Ziri Mandi in Sector 39.
“Pointing towards the secluded area, they threatened to kill us, and implicate us in fake drugs and arms cases if we didn’t leave quietly,” alleged Goyal.
He said he left that day, but visited the Sector 39 police station on Saturday to lodge a complaint after discussion with his family. At the station, he spotted the man in khaki pants who had taken his money.
Goyal said the man identified himself as SI Naveen Phogat and took him to his office, where he offered to return ₹84 lakh if he would maintain silence. He handed over a bag carrying ₹75 lakh and left, following which Goyal lodged a complaint at the same station.
Second termination in five years
Sub-inspector Naveen Phogat, who was recruited in Chandigarh Police as an assistant sub-inspector in 2012, has been embroiled in controversies earlier as well.
Holding an LLM degree, Phogat was accused of raping a 25-year-old Mumbai-based model at a hotel in Chandigarh’s Industrial Area in June 2018. He was dismissed from service on the then SSP Nilambari Jagdale’s orders in October 2018. But after the complainant failed to identify him in court and the prosecution also could not prove the allegations, he was acquitted by a local court in February 28, 2022.
He was probing a fraud case registered by the model during his stint in the cyber crime unit when he was accused of rape. He was appointed as additional SHO at the Sector 39 police station only last month.
Blot on khaki
July 31: CBI arrested two persons, including Manish Dubey, alias Bablu, brother of former BJP councillor Anil Kumar Dubey; and Anil Goyal, alias Kuki, for accepting ₹3 lakh bribe from a Ram Darbar resident on behalf of a Chandigarh Police constable Pawan. Deployed in the PCR wing, Pawan is currently at large. CBI are also questioning operation cell in-charge inspector Harinder Singh Sekhon in connection with the case
July 20: A constable was arrested by Haryana police for abducting and raping a woman on the pretext of marriage. The accused was posted at the security wing in Sector 29. The accused is a distant relative of the woman
June 21: Haryana Police seized 256 boxes of liquor being smuggled to Gujarat from Chandigarh through NH-152 in a mini-truck on a fake permit. Four persons, including a Chandigarh Police constable, Ravinder Singh, who was posted in the traffic wing, was arrested, while constable Anil Kumar and another suspect Naveen had managed to escape. Both cops were later dismissed from service
June 17: The UT vigilance department booked six cops, including a retired cop, for forging signatures of their colleagues on warrants, meant to be delivered to individuals as per orders of the Consumer Redressal Forum and District Court. The cops have been accused of manipulating the process to favour certain individuals against whom the courts had issued warrants.
