Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Feb 15: A team of harassed people has approached the high court, accusing five policemen of theatening them with hoisting false cases about stealing iron and forcing them to cough up Rs 15 lac under duress.

The aggrieved people have asked the court to take legal action against these five policemen and pay a compensation of Rs 2 crore to them.

A single judge bench of the high court which took up the petition for consideration, has served notice to the state government.

The petitioners have named police sub-inspector of Hulimavu station here, Mehboob Pasha, and constables, Praveen, Rajashekhar, Shylesh and Chandashekhar. The petitioners are Yarab, Mushtaq Pasha, Afroze and Syed from Sulibele.

As per the petition, the constables named above visited the scrap shop run by Yarab in plain clothes on January 14, and kicked him, abused him in filthy language, and dragged him away. The police also barged into some other houses in the area and forcibly took some others away in a car to Hulimavu police station. The police threatened to sue them with the charge of stealing steel and demanded payment of Rs 25 lac in order to release them unscathed, besides beating them up.

At 9 pm on that day, the family members put together Rs 15 lac, and handed over money to the constable deputed by Mehbub Pasha. They said they were let go at 2 am that night. They also stated that even thereafter, Chandrashekhar collected Rs 4,000 from them through PhonePe app.