PHAGWARA: Four Assistant Sub Inspectors of Jalandhar rural police have been booked under charges of corruption and extortion for allegedly accepting Rs 4 lac bribe for letting off two men who were carrying Rs 25 lac unaccounted cash at Phillaur.
SP(Investigation) Manpreet Singh Dhillon while confirming it told this correspondent here today that the accused ASIs were identified as Husan Lal, Sukhwinder Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Parmod Kumar who were on duty at a checkpoint on the Jalandhar-Ludhiana national highway in Phillaur.
He said that ASI Hussan Lal and Sukhwinder have been arrested while Kuldeep and Parmod were absconding. The police have recovered ₹3.97 lakh bribe amount from the arrested accused.
SP Dhillon said these four accused stopped a Maruti Alto car for checking at the high-tech checkpoint, where high-resolution CCTV cameras are installed.
Reports received here said , when they found ₹25 lakh unaccounted cash in the car, they demanded ₹4 lakh from the vehicle occupants, identified as Vishal Bajaj of Abohar and Jasbir Singh of Tarn Taran.
The cops let the two off after accepting the money. When Phillaur police station in-charge Sanjeev Kapoor learnt about the incident, he informed his senior officials and lodged a case against the ASIs.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Harneel Singh said the source of the money the car occupants were carrying will be clear once they are arrested.
“Our teams are trying to trace the ASIs and the two car occupants. A case was registered against the accused cops under section 384 (punishment for extortion) of the Indian Penal Code and section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, ” he added.
Interestingly, the police checkpoint is monitored by the office of the Jalandhar senior superintendent of police (SSP).