‘Sarkari kharcha’ demand landed Chandigarh cops in CBI net
Were caught taking ₹5,000 from complainant, had threatened to book him in ‘false’ case
Munna Singh, a resident of Colony number 4, did not want his motorcycle impounded, but two UT policemen were not letting him get away easily. Allegedly cooking up charges against him for riding his bike without a helmet, they said they’d let him go if he paid a “sarkari kharcha” (government expenditure, read bribe, of ₹5,000).
Greed, however, proved to be too expensive for sub-inspector Sewa Singh and constable Sumit of the Industrial Area police station as they landed in the CBI net late on Monday night with Ajay, said to be a middleman in the case.
The arrests were made after Munna Singh, in a May 13 complaint to the superintendent of police, Central Bureau of Investigation, Anti Corruption Bureau, demanded that legal action be taken against the policemen for demanding money from him.
The three accused were produced before the duty magistrate on Tuesday evening and sent to judicial custody.
An employee with a printing press in Industrial Area for the past 10 years, Munna Singh was at work on May 12 when Sewa Singh and a few other policemen came to see his manager, asking for him and his motorcycle.
When he asked why, Munna Singh was told that on May 6 he was riding the vehicle without a helmet and had fled when some policemen had signalled to him to stop at the Colony number 4 red light.
When he protested that it was a Sunday and he had not stepped out of home that day, Sewa Singh asked him to see him at the police station.
When he went to see him, Munna was asked to bring his motorcycle or pay the bribe if he wanted to save himself .
When the policemen refused to listen to his plea that he was poor and earned only ₹7,000 to ₹8,000 a month, Munna Singh filed the complaint with the CBI and a trap was laid. Gurpreet Singh, a constable with the CBI. went to the police station and recorded a conversation between Munna Singh and the accused, including the middleman, with a digital voice recorder.
CBI sleuths on Monday night arrested Sewa Singh and Sumit for allegedly taking the bribe. Ajay was arrested later.
Meanwhile, about 20 policemen appeared in the CBI court to express solidarity with the sub inspector, on Tuesday, waiting anxiously for the two cops to be produced in court.
