A woman police inspector is among four cops suspended on Thursday for trying to fix an interior designer in a false case.
Renuka M, who heads the Whitefield CEN Crime police station in eastern Bengaluru, sub-inspectors Naveen and Ganesh and constable Hemanth were suspended on the basis of a report filed by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), which is investigating a bribery case against the cops. The interior designer, Sudeep V V, had filed a complaint with the corruption watchdog on July 20. DH reported the story on July 24.
Sudeep alleged that a police team headed by Ganesh had hauled him and his wife up to the police station on July 16 to investigate a "cheating" complaint filed by his client. Sudeep was contracted by the client for interior designing work.
Sudeep denied the client's allegation and sought time to finish the work or return Rs 5 lakh that he had taken for the job. Police, however, forced him to transfer Rs 5 lakh to the client and demanded another Rs 10 lakh to spare him. Sudeep said he could pay the police only Rs 5 lakh but they pressured him to arrange another Rs 5 lakh.
Unable to to meet the bribery demand, Sudeep met Ganesh at the police station and recorded the conversation with him on his phone. The audio tape purportedly shows the sub-inspector confessing to having received Rs 5 lakh and demanding another Rs 5 lakh. He tells Sudeep that the money had gone to Renuka (the inspector) and that other cops didn't get a dime, the tape purportedly shows.
Sudeep gave the recording to the ACB.
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