RISHIKESH: Three Uttarakhand police constables were suspended for allegedly extorting Rs 20,000 from a taxi driver by threatening to frame him in a contraband case, officials said on Tuesday.
The incident took place on May 19 and the taxi driver, Abhinav Roy, lodged a complaint against the constables on the next day.
The accused constables were suspended following a probe, they said.
The constables, Ajay Bisht, Pushpendra Kumar and Vineet, deployed at Jollygrant police post under Rani Pokhri police station were suspended with immediate effect on Monday by Dehradun SSP Arun Mohan Joshi, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Pramendra Dobhal said.
They will be arrested soon, he said.
According to the complaint lodged by Roy, the three constables intercepted him at Jollygrant police barricade and asked him to pay them Rs 20,000, Dobhal said.
The policemen, who were not on duty at the time of the incident, threatened to frame Roy in a case for transporting a banned substance in his taxi if he did not pay the money, he said.
Roy paid the policemen as he was scared but approached SSP Joshi the next day to report the incident, the police said.
Joshi immediately ordered a probe into the matter, following which the constables were suspended, they said.