MUMBAI, DECEMBER 16: For the first time in the history of the Anti Corruption bureau, 14 railway police officials were arrested for taking `bribe' from commuters for not carrying luggage in the luggage compartment of the local trains.A gang of two head constables, one assistant sub inspector and eleven police constables targeted those people who travelled in the luggage compartment without carrying any luggage. In this particular case, the complainant who works in a private company boarded a 12.57 pm slow train from Churchgate. The train reached Grant road station at about 1.05 pm when about six to seven persons boarded the compartment and asked some ten commuters to get off at the station. They said that they were railway police and that it was a `crime' to travel without luggage in the luggage compartment of the train. The police also threatened that the commuters might go to jail and also be liable to pay heavy fines for the so called crime.The police then took the complainant and his fellow commuters to a police chowky and told them to pay up Rs 500 each for not registering a case against them and allowing them to go without inquiry.After paying the required amount, the complainant confered with the other commuters at the station and found that these policemen had a gang, popularly known as the ``Dacoit Gang'', which regularly indulged in collecting money for such petty, mostly nonexistant reasons.The very next day, the complainant went to the anti corruption bureau and registered a complaint. Accordingly the officers of the anti corruption bureau laid a trap on December 15. The officers along with the complainant boarded the luggage compartment of a slow train starting from Churchgate. As soon as the train arrived at Grant Road station, the same policemen boarded the train and asked the officers and the complainant to get off at the station. Oblivious of the fact that these were anti corruption officials, they too were taken to a near by police chowky. This time around they collected Rs 400 from each commuters. As soon as procedure got over, the anti corruption bureau officers arrested them. They recovered Rs 28 from these people. Priliminary investigations revealed that this was their established `side business.'These railway police used to target the commuters at odd hours. Speaking to Newsline, S K Iyengar, director general of anti corruption bureau of Maharashtra state, said, ``The collection for just two days is Rs 28,000, imagine what will their income be for a month. We have asked for their custody so that we can investigate the matter further and find out if others are nvolved in this.''
