NEW DELHI: Three traffic police contables have been booked for allegedly extorting Rs 1.20 lakh, mostly in demonetised Rs 500 notes, from a Janakpuri resident here when he was carrying the money meant for his nephew's wedding.
DCP (north west) Milind Dumbere said the incident happened on November 22 when Subhash Pahuja was going to Wazirpur via Mukarba Chowk. "His car was stopped for checking by two traffic policemen near Adarsh Nagar Metro station on some offence. When he (Pahuja) opened dash board to pay the fine, Manoj and Pradeep, both constables, saw stacks of money there. Head constable Suresh Chand also joined them," the DCP said.
The trio later talked for sometime and then the complainant was asked to drive away. "The two constables sat in his car and allegedly took his mobile phone and threw out the SIM card. They also threatened him with 7 years of imprisonment while putting pressure on him to hand over the money-- 1 lakh in scrapped Rs 500 notes and Rs 20,000 in Rs 100 notes," he said.
Pahuja urged them to let him go citing the money was for his nephew's marriage on December 9. The accused policemen roamed around in the car for two hours and finally allowed Pahuja to go allegedly after taking the money, he said. Later, Pahuja collected marriage card of his nephew and showed it to the accused personnel at Adarsh Nagar, Azadpur Chowk, who then returned his money, said the officer. Next day, Pahuja lodged a complaint at Adarsh Nagar police station against the three policemen posted in Model Town traffic circle.
A case under Sections 389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) has been registered and the trio are yet to be found by the police, he added.