A trainee sub-inspector has been nabbed in Noida on charges of extortion from a cab driver in the city. In a complaint to the police commissioner, cab driver Rupesh Tomar penned at length the chilling account of his encounter with Amit Mishra and two others, who robbed him off thousands in the bustling city.
On the night of August 2, Tomar was stopped by Mishra and two other men named Ashish and Abhinav, near Gaur city while he was taking a passenger home.
The prime accused trainee inspector stopped the cabbie and asked him to present the registration documents of his vehicle. At the time of the incident, Mishra was in his uniform.
When the passenger Tomar was taking home at the time of the incident protested, she was subjected to intimidation, too. She was asked to get out of the cab and find her way home on foot.
Once the passenger left, the three accused men started searching through the cabbie’s belongings and discovered stacks of cash- the money the cab driver had earned in the day- and snatched it all.
Tomar pleaded with the miscreants in an attempt to get his money back, revealing that it was all the money he had. But the accused sub-inspector gave him a 500-rupee note, of the total Rs 7,000 the accused had stolen from the victim, in what seems to be a mockery.
Tomar approached Gaur City-1 outpost to seek help, however, the cops in the station did not cooperate or register a complaint. He was asked to instead go to Bisrakh police station, citing jurisdictional tangles. However, no one heard him at this police station, too.
The complaint has resulted in the removal of the DCP (central Noida).
Notably, under the new BNS rules, a person can register a police complaint at any police station, irrespective of the location of the crime.
On August 5, Tomar filed a written complaint with the Police Chief, Laxmi Singh. An investigation that followed the complaint found the details of his allegations to be true.
Rajeev Kumar Gupta, assistant commissioner of police-2, submitted a complaint at Bisrakh police station on August 7, and a case was registered against trainee SI Mishra, Ashish and Abhinav. They were charged under sections 309(4), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke break of peace) of the BNS.
The SHO and a sub-inspector of the Bisrakh police station and the local chowki in-charge were suspended for alleged inaction against the accused trainbee SI, who was shunted, too.
Police is on the lookout for Ashish and Abhinav as well as two others linked to the case, Jerry and Prince. They latter two allegedly alerted Mishra of the approaching cab on the night of the incident.
Since the initiation of the investigation, Shakti Mohan Avasthy, DCP (crime) has replaced DCP Suniti (central Noida). Meanwhile, Ashish released a video where he claimed that Mishra forced him to be a part of his gang, which he further claimed extorted cab drivers after stopping them for cheating.
While Police is on the lookout for the remaining accused, this case has brought forth concerning questions, pertaining to India’s police forces.
(With inputs from TOI)
