Bengaluru: If you are walking on the streets of Bengaluru at night, you have to fear not only thieves, muggers and drunken drivers, but even the city police, as businessman Punit Gupta and his wife Swati of BTM Layout found out on Monday night. The couple, and Mr. Gupta’s brother Himanshu and a friend were walking home after attending a dinner party at a nearby restaurant when they were stopped by two men in Khaki on a police ‘Cheetah’ bike, who threatened to haul the four to the police station, for no discernible reason, unless they paid up. The cops drove away after snatching cash from Mr. Gupta’s wallet.
The incident occurred on Lake Road in BTM Layout 2nd stage at around 11.30 pm on Monday. The ‘Cheetah’ cops questioned the four as to why they were out at that hour. They would not accept Mr. Gupta’s explanation that they were returning home after a party. Worse, one of them turned to Mrs. Gupta and asked her insultingly what she was doing with three men in the middle of the night. He wouldn’t believe when the agitated woman said she was Mr. Gupta’s wife. The cops then threatened to take the group to the police station unless they paid up.
“My brother and I started arguing with the police and asked them what was our fault, why should we pay them money,” Mr. Gupta said. The cops responded by ordering them to open up their wallets. They snatched Rs. 400 from them and sped away. Mr. Gupta said the two policemen would have been from Mico Layout police station. When Deccan Chronicle contacted the police station and enquired about the incident and the erring cops, the station staff did not deny the incident but countered as to why Mr. Gupta had parted with the money, instead of going to the police station and sorting out the matter. The policeman then claimed that Lake Road was also patrolled by constables from Madivala police station, so the extortionist cops could be from that station. Madivala police said, however, that they had no jurisdiction over Lake Road.
Mr. Gupta has now taken the fight to Facebook. He has posted the details of the incident on Bangalore City Police’s Facebook page. Only to find that the city police has referred the matter back to the Mico Layout police inspector. The city waits to see what the police brass do next…
