‘Pay Rs 20 lakh or get shot in encounter’: UP cops booked for ‘extorting’ money from dairy owner

The FIR has been filed against Sub Inspector Arun Kumar, then Station House Officer Neeraj Malik, Constable Yogesh, and four unidentified police personnel.

According to the police, complainant Salman, running a dairy business, alleged that he was intercepted by police personnel at a toll plaza on the evening of April 30 while returning home from his shop. He claimed he was forcibly taken to the Sikandrabad police station without being told the reason for his detention.

The police said Salman alleged that when he repeatedly asked why he had been detained, the accused policemen demanded Rs 20 lakh, warning that if he failed to arrange the money, they would falsely implicate him in a case under the narcotics law and shoot him in the leg in a staged police encounter.

Arranged Rs 6 lakh, says complainant

He further alleged that he was beaten, abused and subjected to intense physical and psychological torture while in custody. Under the alleged coercion, he claimed to have arranged and given Rs 6 lakh to the accused, which his family brought to the police station, after which he was released.

The complainant also stated that before letting him go, the policemen allegedly threatened to kill him and falsely implicate both him and his family members in fabricated criminal cases if he spoke about the episode.

The police said that Salman, a resident of the Risaldaran area of Bulandshahr, claimed that the allegations could be verified through CCTV footage from the Sikandrabad police station as well as the toll plaza, where he was allegedly detained.

The police filed the case under charges of voluntarily causing hurt, extortion, wrongful confinement, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, and criminal intimidation.

Salman did not respond to calls.