Two Pune constables booked for extortion

DNA; Chaitraly Deshmukh; Friday, February 25, 2011,

The Pune police on Wednesday booked two constables attached to the crime branch for allegedly extorting Rs2.55 lakh from a businessman after threatening to implicate him in false cases in 2007.

Rafik Abdul Rahman Kazi (39) of Kondhwa Khurd has lodged a first information report (FIR) at the Kadhak police station.

The police have charged Naik Dilip Vithal Mohite and head constable Farooq Babumia Shaikh under the Indian Penal Code (1860) sections related to kidnapping, criminal intimidation and extortion.

Kazi has alleged that on June 22, 2007, Mohite, along with four other police personnel, kidnapped him in the evening from his ‘Maharashtra Metal Shop’ in Ghorpade Peth and took him to various places in the city in their jeep.

“At night they took me to the crime branch located in the office of commissioner of police and told me that I have been found selling stolen scrap material. They threatened to implicate me in that case. Mohite called me the next day and allegedly demanded Rs1.60 lakh to settle the matter. However, he agreed for Rs1.35 lakh and I paid him the same. Mohite’s accomplice Shaikh took Rs1.20 lakh on June 29 -30, 2007, after threatening to arrest me,” the victim stated in his complaint.

Mohite was attached to the crime branch while Shaikh was working with its anti-dacoity cell.

Kazi added, “I recorded some of their conversation during this period and submitted the tape to the commissioner’s office. An RTI plea revealed that both of them were indicted in a departmental enquiry and suspension orders were served. But no concrete action was taken against them, and they were still serving in the police department.”

Kazi through his lawyers Debajyoti Talukdar and Nagma Tandon filed a criminal writ petition in the Bombay High Court in September 2010. A bench comprising justice AM Khanwilkar and justice AR Joshi heard the case on February 17. The court was informed on the instructions of additional commissioner of police (crime) that department will be registering an offence under IPC against the accused. The next date of hearing is on February 28.