Ahmedabad: Four days after an elderly couple who flew back from Vietnam were allegedly extorted by cops in the city, assistant head constable Khumansinh Dana was suspended on Saturday.
DCP (Zone 5) Baldev Desai, in a statement, said, "A assistant head constable from Ramol police station has been suspended for extorting Rs 12,000 in cash and $400 from a couple from Vadodara."
According to the cops, the couple arrived at Ahmedabad airport from Vietnam and hired a taxi to reach Vadodara on Nov 5. Before reaching Ramol Express Highway, Dana allegedly stopped their vehicle near Adani Circle, which falls under Ramol police jurisdiction, checked their luggage and found four bottles of foreign liquor.
Police said that Dana allegedly took away three bottles of liquor and the money in exchange for not registering a case against them.
Later, the couple, through a relative, approached Ramol police to register a complaint. "The relative was asked not to file the case. Later, Dana got in touch with the relative, promised to return everything he had taken," said police sources.
Meanwhile, the incident swiftly gained traction online. Soon, the city police commissioner instructed DCP Desai to take disciplinary action against Dana. The inquiry was handed over to the assistant police commissioner (I Division). In the preliminary investigation, Dana was found guilty and suspended with immediate effect. "There were two other men with Dana. One of them is Kamlesh Medvada and we are trying to identify the third person," read a police statement.
Till now, no FIR has been filed in this connection.
This is not the first such case. In Aug 2023, a man from South Bopal filed a complaint with Sola police, alleging that three policemen extorted Rs 60,000 from him and his wife, while they were travelling back from the Ahmedabad airport. The cops allegedly threatened them with legal action for roaming late at night. The couple, along with their kid, was returning from Thailand.
In yet another incident last Nov, three policemen were suspended and seven Traffic Regulation Brigade (TRB) jawans were expelled after they extorted Rs 20,000 from a Delhi resident and two others through a UPI transaction after finding a liquor bottle in his car near Nana Chiloda.