3 Bihar policemen hold man ‘hostage’ in a bid to extort money, arrested

The arrests took place late night on Wednesday in the Ahiapur police station area of north Bihar district headquarters town of Muzaffarpur, about 80 km north of state capital, Patna.

Three policemen were arrested from zero mile area under Ahiapur police station in north Bihar district headquarters town of Muzaffarpur, late night on Wednesday, for their alleged involvement in holding ‘hostage’ a man and demanding extortion money from his family.

Among those arrested for the extortion bid was deputy chief of the district policemen’s association. (HT representative image)

The arrested policemen included the deputy president of district unit of the Bihar policemen’s association, a body representing the constabulary.

Confirming the arrests, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vivek Kumar said the action was taken after an inquiry confirmed wrong-doing by the policemen. “They were arrested after deputy superintendent of police (Town) Ashish Anand was asked to inquire into a complaint of abduction against them and found it to be true”, he added.

Five of their associates , however, fled from the spot, the SSP said.

The arrested constables have been identified as Sarvesh Kumar Singh and Sanjit Kumar of Ahiapur poliice station and Md Akhtar, deputy president of district policemen’s association.

An official of the Ahiapur police station said the arrested policemen were accused of picking up Shashi Kumar of Maksudpur village in Minapur block of Muzaffarpur on the charge of helping a gang involved in ATM fraud and holding him ‘hostage’ to extort money from his family.

“The policemen took Shashi to a secluded place and forced him to make a call to his father. They, then, demanded Rs 3 Lakh from Shashi’s father, Umesh Yadav, who approached senior police officers for help”, said the official. This led to the erring policemen’s arrest.

Station house officer of Ahiapur, Vijay Kumar, registered a named FIR against eight persons, including three arrested policemen for kidnapping and demanding ransom. “The arrested policemen have revealed the names of their associates”, said the SSP.

Other sources said 60 cases of ATM fraud had been registered at the Ahiapur police station in the past three months, of which none have been solved.