Jail term for retired cop, 3 constables in Gurugram for illegally confining man in 2009

The court found them guilty of putting Hansraj Rathi, a resident of Rajeev Nagar, in illegal detention, harassing him, demanding bribe, and trying to frame him in a false case. The victim ran a cybercafe in Gurugram

A Gurugram court on Wednesday sentenced a retired police sub-inspector to five years imprisonment and three constables to three years in jail for framing and illegally confining a cybercafe owner and two others in 2009.

Additional sessions judge Ashwani Kumar Mehta also imposed a fine of ₹40,000 each on the four convicted men on Wednesday. (Representative image)

Additional sessions judge Ashwani Kumar Mehta also imposed a fine of ₹40,000 each on the four convicted men on Wednesday. They were held guilty on February 23 and an order for pronouncing the quantum of punishment was reserved for March 9, added police.

The court found them guilty of putting Hansraj Rathi, a resident of Rajeev Nagar, in illegal detention, harassing him, demanding bribe, and trying to frame him in a false case. The victim ran a cybercafe in the area.

The four police personnel had also demanded ₹1 lakh from Rathi, said police.

Retired sub-inspector Ram Dayal was sent to the Bhondsi jail after the order was pronounced and the three constables — Rajesh, Sunil and Vinod were granted bail, said police.

On September 3, 2009, the four policemen, posted in the crime branch, had raided a cybercafe located in Rajiv Nagar, accusing owner Rathi of making fake voter ID cards and other documents.

The four had raided Rathi’s premises and picked him along with his two employees. In the lockup, Rathi was asked to pay ₹1 lakh as bribe. On refusing to give the bribe amount, he and his two employees were booked by the crime branch and a false case was filed against them at the Civil Line police station.

Rathi and his two employees managed to get bail after two months. After getting released on bail, when he reopened his cybercafe, he found CCTV footage of the raid conducted by the four police personnel on September 3, 2009, whereas the four cops had mentioned that they had conducted the said raid on September 5.

Rathi made a complaint against the four before the then CID chief. An enquiry was ordered and the four police personnel were found guilty, after which a case was registered against them for harassing the cybercafe owner and his two employees.

Later, all four were suspended from their respective services.

Amit Jain, the counsel for Rathi, said that the court held the four cops guilty of harassing an innocent civilian, demanding bribe, framing in a fake case, and physically torturing him in the lockup. “The court has also ordered to probe the role of the in-charge of the crime unit who is presently an ACP and to submit a challan in the case within two months and to begin trial at the earliest. This order has given hope to public and policemen who harass and frame people in false cases can also land in jail,” he said.

A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of the Corruption Act, was registered against them in 2009, said police.