‘Pay Rs 5 lakh or he goes to jail’: 4 UP cops booked for extortion

Four Indian police officers, including a sub-inspector, face charges of extortion in Bijnor after allegedly demanding a Rs 5 lakh bribe to release a man detained in Haryana. The incident came to light via an audio recording circulating on social media. Initially, senior police officials launched a preliminary inquiry, which subsequently led to the suspension of the four police personnel from the Sahanpur police outpost under Nazibabad police station.

The complainant, Amjad Majidi, a former pradhan of Pathargarh village and resident of Panipat in Haryana, filed a complaint. According to him, four men, claiming to be UP Police personnel, arrived at his home on November 11-12, claiming to have come for his nephew Hamza, wanted for murder and illegal tree felling. Three of the men were in plain clothes, while one wore police uniform.

They dragged Hamza outside, manhandled him, and threatened to send him to jail unless a ransom was paid. The complainant complied, following the police in his car to the Sahanpur police outpost, where the men demanded the money, threatening to implicate Hamza further if the ransom wasn't paid. The four accused—Sub-Inspector Kulveer Singh, Head Constable Vijaypal, and Constables Gaurav and Upendra—remain at large, while Circle Officer Sunil Kumar Singh confirmed their absconding.