The Bengaluru police on Sunday suspended two police constables of Sampigehalli police station for allegedly harassing a couple walking back home last night and extorting money from them.
The incident was widely shared on Twitter after the victim, Karthik Patri, took to the microblogging site to narrate his ordeal.
Patri said he and his wife were harassed by the patrolling police on the night of December 8. The couple is resident of a society behind the Manyata Tech Park.
Deputy commissioner of police, northeast division, Anoop A Shetty, on Saturday, responded to the post and said stern action would be taken against the policemen.
тАЬThank you for bringing it to our notice. They will be identified, and stern action will be taken against them. We also request others to DM us in such cases,тАЭ he said.
The police personnel have been identified as Rajesh, head constable, and Nagesh, constable.
тАЬThe constables have stopped this couple of demanded money. Both of them have been suspended, and further investigation is underway,тАЭ Shetty said.
According to the tweets, the couple was walking back home after attending a friendтАЩs cake-cutting ceremony around 12:30 am when they were stopped a few metres away from the entrance gate by a pink Hoysala patrol van. тАЬTwo men in police uniforms asked us to show our ID cards. We were taken aback. Why should an adult couple walking on the street on a normal day be asked to show their ID cards?тАЭ Karthik said.
Karthik mentioned that the police confiscated their phones and questioned them about their relationship, place of work and parental details.
тАЬThough a bit shook, we answered their questions politely. At this point, one of them took out what looked like a challan book and started noting our names and Aadhaar numbers. Sensing trouble, we asked why we were being issued a challan,тАЭ Karthik wrote.
When asked why they were being issued a challan, the police responded by saying, тАЬYou are not allowed to roam on the road after 11 pm,тАЭ Karthik said.
тАЬStruck by the absurdity of the reason, we persisted: тАШIs there such a rule? We are unaware of it.тАЩ тАШLiterate people like you should know about such rules.тАЩ he shot back,тАЭ Karthik wrote.
Sensing trouble, the couple apologised to the police for being ignorant about the rule and assured them of not venturing out at night again.
However, the policemen refused to let them go and demanded тВ╣3,000 as a penalty, Karthik said.
тАЬThe more we pleaded, the harsher they became, even threatening to arrest us. It was as if we were stuck in quicksand тАУ the more we struggled, the deeper we sunk. This continued for a long time until the harassment became unbearable,тАЭ he further said.
Karthik said the police showed them pictures of convicts and threatened them with dire consequences if they didnтАЩt pay up.
тАЬI could barely hold my nerve while my wife was in tears. Realising that they had pushed a woman too far and fearing the legal consequences, they changed tack.тАЭ
The police in the driving seat then took Karthik aside and asked him to pay a minimum amount to тАЬavoid further troubleтАЭ.
тАЬI agreed to pay тВ╣1,000 and get done with it. The man immediately held up a PayTM QR code, waited for me to scan it and make the payment, and let us go with a stern warning,тАЭ Karthik said.
