Inquiry on, but cops kept on extorting money

Surat: Extortion by four cops booked at Sarthana police station had continued even after an inquiry by a senior police official was ordered against them for taking Rs30.5 lakh from a garage owner who had illegally changed the chassis number of a private transport bus here. The inquiry was ordered on March 18 and they accepted instalments of the extortion money until March 22 from the racketeer besides returning the seized bus to him two days later with a promise to protect him from prosecution. The accused cops had accepted Rs30.50 lakh in five transactions from March 9 to March 22.
These facts have come out during the inquiry conducted by C K Patel, assistant commissioner of police A division, who had been given the task of inquiry by Harikrushna Patel, joint commissioner of police, sector I.

Irshad Pathan, the garage owner, was booked at Sarthana police station on March 31, a week after the inquiry against the cops was ordered. Police investigation revealed that bus GJ-04-AT-8291 was purchased by Suresh Jivani, his brother Jaysukh and others. They had mortgaged the bus against a loan from a private finance company. Upon non-payment of the loan, the bus was seized by the finance company and auctioned. The bus was purchased by Pathan through his man in offline auction and brought to his garage at Valak on the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile, Jivani and Jaysukh went to check the bus at garage on March 8 night where they noticed that the accused was changing its registration number and the chassis number.

Questioned about extortion even after initiation of the inquiry, a police officer said, “It was a confidential inquiry. It is possible that the cops were not aware of it. This gave the inquiry officer enough time to collect evidence against the cops.” N D Chaudhary, police inspector, H M Gohil, police sub-inspector, Gopal Bharwad and Bhagu Bharwad, both constables, were booked at Sarthana police station where they were posted on Saturday.

The cops had been suspended a day earlier by city police commissioner Satish Sharma.

Pathan, owner of Star Auto Garage, had borrowed money from his acquaintances in city and Jetpur of Rajkot district to give to the cops. He had also taken a loan of Rs9 lakh from a private financier after mortgaging the same bus.