2 cops booked for demanding ₹50K bribe

Mumbai police officers, API Santosh Jadhav and PSI Ram Tupe, have been booked by the Anti-Corruption Bureau for allegedly demanding money from a complainant.

MUMBAI: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered a case against an assistant police inspector (API) and a police sub-inspector (PSI) of the Kalachowkie police station for allegedly demanding money from the complainant after arresting the accused in a cheating case based-on the woman’s complaint.

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The officers booked are identified as API Santosh Jadhav, 35, and PSI Ram Tupe, 31.

According to the ACB officials, In July 2022, the Kalachowkie police registered a case based on a complaint lodged by the cousin of Vijaya Deshmukh, a resident of Kalachowkie, for cheating and criminal breach of trust.

In September 2023, the police arrested the accused — her real brother — in the case. “The victim had kept 310 grams of gold jewellery and ₹6 lakh cash at home. The accused, her real brother, who used to stay with her, took the jewellery saying that he would keep it safe in his bank locker. However, he pawned the jewellery and took ₹10 lakh from him,” said the ACB official.

Jadhav and Tupe, who were investigating the case, arrested the accused in September from Ahmednagar district. They, however, started demanding money from Deshmukh’s cousin’s brother, who had lodged the complaint on behalf of her.

Deshmukh’s cousin then approached the ACB officials and lodged a complaint, alleging that the police officers had been demanding ₹50,000 from him, claiming that they had recovered all the lost valuables.

“As the complainant, who was already cheated, didn’t wish them to pay, he approached us. We recorded the conversation between the two police officers and Deshmukh’s cousin’s brother, who is our complainant, and finally arranged for a trap. However, the duo suspected something wrong and did not accept the bribe amount,” said the ACB official.

After which, based on the demand they made, we registered a case against the duo under section 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.