50-yr-old woman claims to be police officer, extorts 'bondas', groceries from vendors in Bengaluru

In a bizarre incident of impersonation, a 50-year-old well-to-do homemaker was arrested for extorting 'bondas' and 'bhajjis' from a local vendor in Byatarayanapura in North-East Bengaluru, in the guise of a police officer.

The vendor, Sahaik Salam, 26, who sold these fritters in a push-cart near Ayyappa temple in Byatarayanapura was fed up with the 'hafta' (extortion) system. The vendor said that the woman visited his shop once or twice a week for the last one month in plain clothes, introduced herself as a woman police officer from Kodigehalli police station and took the food for free.

She threatened the vendor that she would report his cart as illegal and make him shut shop if he failed to give her the food each time she visited. Scared of going out of business, Salam gave her the fritters every time over the past one month.

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Salam lost his cool when she went to him on the evening of January 5, ate egg bonda at the spot and made him parcel other bondas worth Rs 100. He asked her to pay up. The woman, angry at his audacity to ask her for money, threatened to immediately get his cart removed

Salam immediately called 112 and informed the police about the harassment. The woman fled from the scene as soon as he dialled the cops. He, however, noted down her vehicle registration number. The Hoysala patrolling staff reached the spot and collected details from Salam and asked him to visit Kodigehalli police station and file a complaint.

The police swung into action and managed to nab the homemaker Leelavathi with the help of the registration number of the vehicle. The police learned that her husband is an engineer, her elder daughter is a doctor and her son is an engineering student. The family is financially well but Leelavathi still has misused the name of the police department to extort eateries. She used to extort grocery vendors for fruits, vegetables and daily provisions.

During police interrogation, Leelavathi admitted to extorting money from vendors. She apologised to the police for misusing the department's name. She was arrested and has been granted bail in court, a senior police officer told DH.

Leelavathi's extortion tale has been ongoing for a year. The vendors had previously informed Kodigehalli police about some woman police officer extorting food from them but, no one had filed an official complaint. Following the complaint, the women staff in the station were also questioned but since they had not collected 'hafta' from anyone, senior officials were having hard time tracing the culprit.

After Leelavathi was arrested, five vendors--including a bakery owner, a biriyani hotel owner and others -- officially filed complaints against her.