E-Paper
SHO held, 2 constables booked for extorting ₹2.5 lakh from Jalandhar spa owner
Two of his accomplices, both constable-rank police personnel, were also nominated in the FIR registered under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the IPC.
A station house officer (SHO) of Jalandhar’s Rama Mandi police station has been arrested for accepting a bribe of ₹2.5 lakh from the owner of a local spa centre on Friday.
The accused has been identified as Rajesh Arora, an inspector-rank police official, who was extorting money from a spa owner for not registering a case against him.
Two of his accomplices, both constable-rank police personnel, were also nominated in the FIR registered under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the IPC.
On Thursday, Arora along with his team of police personnel conducted a raid at a body spa centre in Rama Mandi area and illegally detained its seven employees, including women, at the police station. After detaining the spa centre’s employees, the accused SHO called its owner, identified as Rajesh Kumar, alias Saabi, and demanded money from him.
“The SHO accused the centre owner of running illegal activities at his spa centre and said a case would be registered against him and his employees. Later, the accused demanded ₹5 lakh from the owner for not registering an FIR and threatened the owner that he will be implicated in a false case if he didn’t pay the money,” a senior official said.
At this, the victim carried negotiations with the accused and the deal was set at ₹2.5 lakh, which the victim paid to the accused SHO in cash following which the centre’s employees were released from illegal detention.
Joint commissioner of Jalandhar Sandeep Kumar said after paying the bribe amount to the accused, the victim filed a written complaint with the assistant commissioner of police (central), who immediately brought the matter into notice of senior officials.
“Commissioner of police Swapan Sharma immediately ordered registration of an FIR against the accused SHO and two other constables. Accused Rajesh Arora has been arrested and a sum of ₹2.5 lakh has been recovered from his possession,” he said.
Kumar added they will procure police remand of the accused SHO for a detailed investigation to look into such gross misconduct.
“Teams have been rushed to arrest the other two accused nominated in the case. Their role in the whole incident will be thoroughly investigated and stringent action will be taken according to the course of law,” he said.
Meanwhile, in his complaint, the victim alleged that the accused SHO and his accomplice misbehaved with the women employees and even turned off the CCTV cameras installed in the police station. It was further alleged that after taking the money, the accused took camera DVRs into his possession.
