Man alleges Bengaluru cops tried to plant ‘ganja’ in his bag and took Rs 2,500 from him

Earlier, in a series of tweets, Vaibhav Patil wrote that the police officers allegedly harassed and threatened him and later let him off with a stern warning after he coughed up Rs 2,500 for no fault of his. He alleged that they also said his arrest would reward them Rs 15,000 each.

According to Patil (22), who is from Himachal Pradesh, he had booked a Rapido (bike taxi) but was allegedly stopped by the police officers near the Ayyappa Swamy temple in HSR Layout. “One of the officers turned to me, and asked questions like where I was coming from, where I was going and what I was doing. I cooperated and answered. He then went ahead… I again cooperated and opened my office bag…,” he said.

“Next the police officer took my bag and started looking around. The other officer was behind me, talking about where I am from, what I do and other stuff. Suddenly, the officer took out something that looked like a little twig and asked ‘what’s this?’ I couldn’t make out what that was. He then asked, ‘You smoke ganja?’ I was shaken to my core as I am not into any of that stuff.”

Patil said that the officer himself had put the “ganja” into his bag. “It was small enough to hide in his palm and even smaller to find out in low light. I am afraid to go out now, not because of criminals but police,” he said.

Patil said he was later forced to admit that he smoked weed. “For something that was not mine nor I had any idea about its existence! I told them to have my medical test done because I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong or illegal, nor did I have any idea about this twig. They still kept harassing me and putting mental pressure on me to submit. I kept refusing,” said Patil. He was allegedly taken by the officers on their two-wheeler to a police station and was told that his arrest would “reward them Rs 15,000 each”.

“On the way, they again kept forcing me to admit, repeating that my arrest would reward them Rs 15,000. When I didn’t give in, they told me that they would take me to a hospital and get my test done,” said Patil, who works a 5pm-4am shift.

However, according to Patil, just ahead of reaching the hospital, the motorcycle took him to a “shady place”, near 10th Main, HSR Layout, and the officers allegedly threatened to arrest him, again.

According to Patil, the police officers found out that he had Rs 2,500 in his wallet and more in his bank account. He was then allegedly asked to withdraw the money from the bank. “I showed them the balance, it was around Rs 4,000. They said, ‘OK go to the ATM and take out the cash’. But I didn’t have my card on me. I asked if UPI will work. They refused and let me go. They, however, took Rs 2500 and gave me a piece of advice that I shouldn’t be out at night,” said Patil.

Patil said he had come to Bengaluru just six months ago and earned Rs 22,000 monthly as an intern.

“It is very difficult for me to get out of this trauma and I fear going home now after my night shift. I did not want to raise any complaint because I did not want to get into the legal procedure and bring more stress to me than mental peace after justice. That’s why I didn’t approach police in the first place and just made the incident public so that people are aware of what’s happening,” he said.

Last month, two policemen of the Sampigehalli station were suspended for allegedly fining a married couple Rs1,000 for roaming the streets after 11pm. The action came after the man who was fined shared on Twitter the ordeal he and his wife had to go through.