Policemen manning Dial-100 car extort money, suspended

The Dial-100 police helpline squad, once touted as the dream project of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, has been in the news for wrong reasons. The opposition has been alleging that the service has now been reduced into an exploitation machinery through neglect in the new regime.

The latest case was reported from the Jhinjhana on of the Shamli district where two policemen deputed on the Dial-100 service took Rs 2,000 bribe from a local farmer for “settling” an accident case. The farmer recorded the entire incident on his phone and put it up on the social media.

Shamli Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar has since suspended the erring policemen after a video of the incident went rival.

On Thursday (June 20), a Maruti passenger car had collided with a tractor on the Jhinjhana-Shamli road. The two drivers had settled the issue between themselves and neither was keen to lodge a police complaint regarding the accident, but just then a Dial-100 police car reached the spot. Neither of the drivers had called the police.

As per eyewitnesses, Head Constable Kanwarpal Singh and Home Guard Narendra Nirwal, who were manning the police car, coerced the car driver, Jabir Rana, and tractor driver Munna by telling them to come to the police station to sort the matter out. After this, they extorted Rs 2,000 in the name of settling the matter.

The entire incident unfolded on the roadside in full public view, and an onlooker shot the video in which the policeman is also seen haggling over the amount and uttering expletives to pressurise the two drivers.

Samajwadi Party’s state secretary Manish Yadav said that the incident showed the true face of law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh.