The Kothnur police illegally detained four people, including two women, in the station for five days, and demanded Rs 7 lakh from their families to release them.
They did not allow Deepika, one of the detainees, to see the body of her husband who committed suicide or attend to her two young children who had been left behind at home.
Last Friday, Naveen Kumar of Kothnur ingested poison and later died in a hospital. The sub-inspector registered a case of unnatural death.
Kumar had given a dying declaration to the police in front of the doctor that no one was responsible for his death.
The next day, Inspector N Purushottam called his wife Deepika, her younger sister Suma and a family friend, Babu, to the station and detained them after making inquiries. Deepika’s father was also illegally detained.
Deepika said she was taken to the hospital where her husband’s body was kept, but was not allowed to see it.
“They would not allow me to see the body even though I kept pleading with them. They then brought me back to the police station and kept me there till the Lokayukta police released me on Thursday,” she said.
“Every time I asked them to release me, they kept telling me that a compromise would be reached soon and I would be allowed to go back. I kept pleading with them that I had to take care of my second son, who is suffering from wheezing problems, but they turned a deaf ear.
Even the woman constables would not answer any of my questions, but said that the inspector would say when I could go home,” she said.
Though a woman constable is supposed to be posted on all the nights, no woman constable was present on two nights.
Once Babu’s relative paid Rs 2.1 lakh to Inspector Purushottam, Suma was sent home after three days in the station.
Lokayukta trap
Babu’s relative Girish approached the Lokayukta police and lodged a complaint about the inspector and his extortion bid.
When Girish arrived at the police station to pay Rs 5 lakh, Inspector Purushottam asked him where the money was and Girish told him that it was in the car parked outside the station.
Purushottam, however, grew suspicious and said all of them would be released and he did not ask for the money.
The next few minutes were straight out of a film. As Girish drove out of the station, constable Manjunath followed him on a bike, stopped his car and asked for money. A scramble ensued and Manjunath snatched the bag and fled on his bike.
The Lokayukta police arrested Purushottam and released Deepika and others immediately. However, Manjunath is still absconding.
A case has been registered against both the inspector and the constable at the Kothnur police station under the Prevention of Corruption Act and charges of robbery, wrongful restraint and criminal conspiracy.
Purushottam has been remanded in judicial custody till August 21.
Additional Commissioner of Police T Suneel Kumar said that DCP (North East) G Ramesh will send a report on the illegal confinement and the matter would be treated very seriously.
He said people could approach senior officers in such instances rather than trying to pay money for their release.
