Representative image showing a police officer.
Credit: iStock Photo
Bengaluru: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Bengaluru police has arrested three police constables for allegedly cheating a business owner, officials said on Monday.
The arrested are Maruthy, a head constable from Davanagere, and Yuvaraj and Mehboob, both constables from the RT Nagar police station in Bengaluru.
The police said that Maruthy was already under suspension for an earlier offence and was previously attached to the office of the Davanagere Superintendent of Police.
The police said the trio allegedly hoodwinked Tabrez J, 26, a resident of Devanahalli in Bengaluru Rural district, who owned a medical shop in the area.
Tabrez alleged that he was cheated out of Rs 12 lakh by one Ramesh from Davanagere, who promised to sell him gold coins weighing four kilos. Ramesh claimed that an old man in his village had found the gold coins while ploughing a field and did not know what to do with them.
Ramesh had earlier purchased medicines from Tabrez and had become acquainted with him in March.
In exchange for Rs 12 lakh, Tabrez was given the gold coins, which he later discovered were fake.
He was then approached by two constables from the RT Nagar police station, who promised to help him recover his money. Tabrez was initially apprehensive, as he had not filed a formal complaint regarding the cheating, but was convinced after meeting the two constables near the station.
In his complaint, Tabrez told the police that the constables took Rs 75,000 from him for recovering the lost amount and also made him bribe Maruthy in Davanagere with another Rs 75,000.
During the investigation following their arrest, CCB officials found that Maruthy had learned about the cheating incident and directed Yuvaraj to contact Tabrez.
“Maruthy recovered Rs 8 lakh of the Rs 12 lakh from Ramesh and returned Rs 4.5 lakh to Tabrez while pocketing the rest, since no formal case had been registered,” a CCB source said. "It is yet to be ascertained who exactly benefited and by how much."
The suspects have been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 308 (extortion), 316 (criminal breach of trust), and 318 (cheating).
Haka Akshay Machindra, DCP (Crime-1), oversaw the investigation.