Cheetah cops held, PI suspended

Bengaluru: Taking serious note of men in khaki indulging in extortion, the police department on Friday ordered the arrest of two police personnel attached to Madivala police station. They have been identified as Sridhar, a head constable, and Narasimha, a home guard. “An FIR is registered against them based on the complaint of Swathi Gupta, wife of Punit Gupta,” city Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi told Deccan Chronicle.

The police top brass also pulled up the inspector for his inability to control his subordinates. Inspector Prashantha M.N. will remain under suspension for indefinite time until the inquiries against the erring cops are completed.

Punit Gupta, his wife Swati, brother Himanshu and a friend had gone to a restaurant near their house in BTM Layout on Monday night to celebrate Himanshu’s birthday. While returning home around 11.30 pm they were confronted by two night beat cops on a ‘Cheetah’ bike.

The cops behaved with them in a high handed manner. They asked what they were doing late night at that place and later even asked Swati what she was doing with three men. An argument ensued and the cops threatened them to slap cases against them. They later told them to told them to empty their wallets and took away the money.

Senior cops, who took note of the Facebook post by Punit Gupta’s harrowing experience, found that the erring cops were from  Madivala police station and not Mico Layout as it was earlier assumed. However, the place apparently where the extortion took place comes under Mico Layout police jurisdiction.

‘Prompt police action a big surprise’

Kindly share your response to the quick action taken by the police commissioner in this case. How and when did you come to know about it?

Prompt action by the senior police officers including the commissioner came to us as a big surprise, given our harrowing experience with their front line staff few days back. The Commissioner himself called me immediately after seeing my complaint and he directed his team to resolve the case within 24 hours. Police team immediately got into the action and worked closely with us and closed the matter right on time.

How did city police Facebook page help you fight the unlawful activity?

The social media helped us to get the word out there about the harrowing experience that we underwent under the hands of city cops. Kudos to Deccan Chronicle! that it published a report about the incident in an elaborate way giving out intricate details after speaking to me about the incident. All that helped to get the attention of the senior officers from the police department that helped solve the case so soon.

Did you expect such a quick response to your case?

No, we are used to thinking that police in general are corrupt. But now that we got the first hand experience in dealing with senior police officials, we feel much more confident about our police force. I couldn't be more proud of the talent the force carries and the intent of the senior police officials.

Since how many years have you been staying in Bengaluru? How safe do you think is this City (before and after this incident).

We have been in Bengaluru for about two-and-half years. Although we never had any problems here before this incident, but there was always this feeling of helplessness just in case something went wrong as we belonged from outside the state. But now after going through all this, we feel more confident about our decision of staying in Bengaluru. We feel very strongly about the Bangalore Police now and feel much more safe and confident in calling Bengaluru our home.