A woman police inspector was caught “red-handed” taking a brine of Rs 20,000 from a contractor on Wednesday, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said.
Hamsaveni, who heads the Chikkajala traffic police station in northern Bengaluru, was reportedly caught receiving the cash from a GAIL contractor. In exchange, she had promised to allow him to lay underground gas pipelines in Telecom Layout, Jakkur ward. The contractor, a resident of Srirampura, had sub-contracted the work to someone else.
On April 13, shortly after workers started laying pipelines at 8th Cross in Telecom Layout, Hamsaveni asked them to stop the work and submit the relevant documents at the Chikkajala traffic police station.
When the contractor went to the police station with the relevant documents on April 18, head constables Gangaraju and Amul demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 to allow him to continue the work. For any other work in the jurisdiction of the police station, he was asked to shell out another Rs 50,000. The constables said they were acting on the instructions of their inspector.
The contractor complained to the ACB, which asked him to meet the inspector in person and hand over the cash. When the contractor met the inspector at the police station and handed her the cash, ACB sleuths caught Hamsaveni “red-handed” and arrested her. The ACB also arrested Amul, while Gangaraju managed to flee.
Did constables have a role to play?
An investigation is underway to determine the constables’ role: whether they had a share in the bribe or were merely going by their boss’ orders, a senior officer said.
A case has been registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act at the ACB police station.
The ACB has learnt that Amul was a member of the Cobra traffic patrol team, while Gangaraju was assigned the police station work.
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