Two officials from CR Park police station,under the Southeast police district,have been suspended for seeking Rs 1 lakh for registering an FIR in a theft case. While the original FIR is yet to be registered,the accused officials are absconding even a month after a case was registered against them on September 7 for seeking the bribe. The Anti Corruption Branch registered separate cases against Sub-Inspector (S-I) Satya Prakash Bhardwaj and Constable Pramod Kumar based on a telephone conversation between S-I Bhardwaj and the complainant. Complainant Vikas Bharti is a senior executive in a multinational shipping company. He took his case to CR Park police early last month after his bag was stolen from a car. Bharti,a senior officer acquainted with the case said,landed at IGI from a Singapore flight and was on way home in Kannauj,Uttar Pradesh. After briefly halting at a petrol pump in Kalkaji,South Delhi,the car (a Toyota Innova) sped towards covering the 300-odd kilometres towards Kannauj. According to the officer,Bharti has told police that he was tired after the long flight and took a nap in the car after alerting the driver. Somewhere near Faridabad,the officer said,the driver told Bharti that he was stopping for a cup of tea. He reportedly fled. Alert after a few minutes,Bharti realised his bag containing his passport and other documents were missing. He went back to the Kalkaji petrol pump and then approached S-I Bhardwaj and Constable Pramod Kumar at CR Park police station. They allegedly demanded Rs 6,000 and assured him the bag would be recovered. Desperate to get back documents since he regularly travels abroad,Bharti paid them but found the FIR was not lodged even the next day. Anti-Corruption Branch officials said even a written complaint to the Southeast district Deputy Commissioner of Police did not help. According to the complainant,S-I Bhardwaj rang up one night and allegedly demanded Rs 1 lakh to register the FIR. Bharti recorded the conversation and took it to the Anti Corruption Branch,based on which a case was registered. An official at CR Park police station said the theft case has still not been registered: The area where theft allegedly took place comes under Kalkaji polices jurisdiction. Additional Commissioner of Police (Anti-Corruption Branch),I D Shukla said,A case has been registered and investigations are underway.
