Gurugram cop accused of graft and illegal detention surrenders

After being on the run for 14 days, suspended police officer Vishal Kumar, who is an accused in a ₹57-lakh graft case and the illegal detention of a call centre owner, surrendered before a court on Monday

After being on the run for 14 days, suspended police officer Vishal Kumar, who is an accused in a ₹57-lakh graft case and the illegal detention of a call centre owner, surrendered before a court on Monday. He was handed over to the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau for a three-day custodial interrogation.

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“The police remand is required in order to probe the larger conspiracy between accused Vishal Kumar and his accomplice, head constable Amit Kumar,” said senior officer of Haryana State Vigilance Bureau on condition of anonymity.

The officer said that Kumar had illegally detained a call centre owner, assaulted him and extorted ₹57 lakh. He was demanding ₹10 lakh more.

Kumar surrendered before the court of judicial magistrate first class (JMIC) Sumitra Kadian, after evading arrest for 14 days. He was handed over to the state vigilance team and was taken to their office in Sector 47.

Last week, during his stay in Gurugram, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said that the accused, who was the station house officer (SHO) of Kherki Daula police station, would be arrested and appropriate action would be taken against him.

According to the vigilance department, the victim, Naveen Bhutani, who runs a call centre and sells religious products in the UK and Australia, had approached the senior officers of the department with a complaint against two officials of the Kherki Daula police station for allegedly extorting ₹57 lakh from him and demanding ₹10 lakh more.

Bhutani said that SHO Vishal Kumar assaulted him in his office and got his laptop data scanned for information on his business. He allegedly asked for ₹1 crore for his release but agreed on ₹57 lakh after negotiation.

Later Bhutani approached senior vigilance officials and narrated his ordeal, following which a case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and sections 384 (extortion ), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of Indian Penal Code was registered against the police officials.

Another senior officer privy to the investigation said that Bhutani was called to a resort on Delhi-Gurugram Expressway. Two policemen in uniform and seven in plain clothes took him to custody, bundled him inside his car and took him to Kherki Daula police station, where Kumar allegedly assaulted him inside his office.

The officer said that head constable Amit, allegedly on the direction of SHO, was putting pressure on Bhutani to make a payment of additional ₹10 lakh in exchange for his laptop which was recorded by the victim.

The vigilance team laid a trap and caught the head constable red-handed while allegedly taking ₹5 lakh from Bhutani at a dhaba on December 29.