Traffic cops find new ways to extort money
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BENGALURU: The city traffic policemen have devised a new way to extort money from motorists, who are found violating the law. “This is my mobile number 94***********. give me a missed call from your phone. By evening you better pay up and leave quietly, or else I will seize your bike and cancel your licence for the violation,” is the common threat the city motorists hear from corrupt traffic policemen in the city.
Some of the motorists the Deccan Chronicle spoke to said that the city policemen allegedly raise illegal violations and pocket the money without issuing challans. If the motorists demand one, the policemen allegedly threaten them with more serious charges. Mr Vinith Mouni, who hails from Tumakuru, was one of the latest victims. He was stopped near Sadashivanagar police station on Thursday morning for riding in a no-entry zone. “A traffic sub-inspector flagged me down. I apologised to him, and he replied, ‘You have to pay Rs 800 fine for riding on the wrong side. If you don’t pay I will seize your bike and send your DL for cancellation’.”
Mr Mouni, who was not carrying enough cash, paid Rs 150. He thought that he had paid the fine and he could leave. But it was only the beginning of his harassment. “Renuka Prasad, the cop on duty, took the money and handed me a receipt for Rs 100. He also gave me his mobile number and asked me to give him a missed call. After saving my number, he said, ‘By evening, if you don’t pay up the remaining Rs 600, I will seize your bike and send your licence for cancellation’,” Mr Mouni said.
In another incident on Wednesday night, two traffic policemen allegedly stopped a woman motorist near Kalyan Nagar flyover 80 ft road around 8.30 on the pretext of checking previous violations by her. The motorist, Monalisa Patro, who has filed a complaint with the police higher-ups, said, “The cops started arguing with me that they needed to check my previous violations. One of the cops checked on his Blackberry device and slapped me with a challan, saying that I had wrongly parked my two-wheeler on July 17, 2014, in Ullasappa Circle. In the last 12 years that I have stayed in the city, I have never been to that place, either by my two-wheeler or by foot. None of my family members too have gone there. When I asked for the challan, the cops were hesitant to hand it over to me.”
After much argument, she paid the fine amount and reached home. But as she was not at peace, she checked the location of Ullasappa Circle and found that it was a residential area, and that she had never gone there.
DCP (traffic – East) C.K. Baba said, “The department will not tolerate such behaviour from the officers and staff. I will conduct an inquiry and if the allegation is true, we will deal with the errant officers strictly.”
ASI suspended recently:
An assistant sub-inspector attached to the Chickpet traffic police station was suspended on August 4 on charges of accepting bribe for various traffic violations.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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