4 cops among 9 arrested in separate cases of robbery, extortion in Karnataka

The arrested officers were identified as Malappa Chippalakatti and Praveen Kumar, attached to the office of the Davanagere Eastern Zone Inspector General of Police (IGP). The two were recently transferred to this office from Haveri district. Their accomplices were identified as Satish Revankar, Nagraj Revankar, Dundeppa, Nagesh, and Dilyappa.

According to the police, the incident took place on Monday near the Davangere bus stand when Vishwanath Arkasali, a jeweller from Karwar who buys and sells gold bullion from traders in Davangere to make ornaments, boarded a bus to Karwar via Hubballi. The two accused police personnel allegedly entered the bus, took Arkasali by the collar and dragged him out of the bus without informing why they were doing so.

Uma Prashant, Superintendent of Police (SP), Davangere, told reporters on Tuesday that the accused officers took the man to KTJ Nagar police station in an official vehicle before transferring him to another vehicle. “The accused threatened the victim and accused that he was involved in smuggling gold from Dubai and other countries, and threatened to give away the gold,” the SP said.

As per the First Information Report (FIR), Arkasali said that when he questioned the actions of the officers, they flashed their official ID cards and took away 76 grams of gold bars and a ring weighing 2.15 grams before dropping him back at the bus stand.

Following the incident, Arkasali initially proceeded to Karwar, but returned to Davangere on Monday to file a complaint at KTJ Nagar police station. The police subsequently arrested the two sub-inspectors on Monday night and the other accused by Tuesday morning.

2 cops arrested in Bengaluru for extorting Rs 10k

In Bengaluru’s JP Nagar, two police constables were arrested for allegedly extorting Rs 10,300 from an insurance agent earlier this month.

The arrested constables were identified as Basavaraj and Gurudutt, both attached to the JP Nagar police station. The incident allegedly took place on November 1, when the victim, Varadaraju, an insurance agent, was sitting in a car with a woman friend around 8.45 pm.

The constables, who were on patrol, approached them and questioned their presence at the spot, while accusing the two of indulging in anti-social activity. Before Varadaraju could explain, Basavaraj got into the car and began driving to the police station, with Gurudutt following them. On the way to the station, the officer allegedly halted the vehicle and said that they would seize the car if Varadaraju did not pay them Rs 40,000, following which Varadaraju transferred Rs 10,300 to one of the constables and left.

On November 5, Varadaraju approached the JP Nagar police station and filed a complaint. Internal probe revealed that Basavaraj and Gurudutt had extorted the money. On Tuesday, the police said they were arrested and suspended from service.

Last week, Chalapathy, a constable from Malur police station in Karnataka’s Kolar district, was arrested for allegedly kidnapping four BPO managers in Bengaluru in a bid to extort Rs 8.90 lakh from them. Seven others were also arrested in the case. On November 19, Annappa Naik, a constable attached to Govindapura police station in Bengaluru, was arrested for alleged involvement in robbing Rs 7.11 crore from a vehicle carrying cash to restock ATMs.