Bengaluru: Cop who misbehaved with student suspended

BENGALURU: Following a report in Deccan Chronicle about a traffic police constable misbehaving with a student and extorting money from him, DCP (Traffic-East) Chandrashekhar K. Baba has suspended the erring cop.

DC had carried the story, ‘Mr Cop mind your manners...’, in its Monday edition. Taking note of the story, the DCP had ordered for a departmental inquiry against Nanjundappa, a constable attached to the Indiranagar traffic police station. He had allegedly called Samuel Jacob, a 20-year-old student hailing from Kerala, a ‘Porkie’ near Kaggadasapura Main Road on June 14.  After a detailed inquiry by the DCP and ACP, lasting over three hours, the accused traffic cop was suspended.

Chandrashekhar, who recently took charge of East-Traffic division, took immediate note of the complaint after DC reported the matter to him on Sunday and had assured that he would not tolerate such unlawful activities by his men. On Monday evening, he ordered for the suspension of Nanjundappa.

“I would like to thank Deccan Chronicle for bringing up the matter to me, helping me get in touch with the victim and take appropriate action against the erring cop. For us, citizens come first. It is our prime duty to make sure that our commuters are safe on roads and are not harassed. Based on the complaint of Samuel Jacob, a resident of Babusaabpalya, the action was initiated,” Baba told DC.

The incident happened around 11.30 am on Saturday morning, when Jacob was going on his bike to Vignananagar from Old Madras Road. He was intercepted by Nanjundappa. Though his papers were in order, he was questioned for ‘altering’ his bike and Nanjundappa immediately took possession of his licence. When Jacob tried to reason with him and the other ASI on duty, they misbehaved with him.

Nanjundappa had allegedly told Jacob, “Look at you? You look like a ‘Porkie’ who come from other states and settle down in the city. Areas such as Horamavu, Kammanahalli and Hennur are filled with people like you, who come here and create nuisance. Go away from here and come to me only when you have Rs 2,000 to give me and take away your licence.”  

After undergoing harassment for over two hours and public humiliation, Jacob was let go after the cops pocketed Rs 300 from him and billed for only Rs 100.