Karnataka: Home guard accuses cops of extorting Rs 90,000 in Chamarajanagar

BENGALURU: A 35-year-old suspended home guard trying to return to duty has accused police personnel from MM Hills, Chamarajanagar, of illegally detaining him and extorting Rs 90,000 from him by making false robbery allegations.
However, police have denied the home guard’s allegations as MM Hills police did not issue him a no-objection certificate to rejoin duty.Further, cops claim that the home guard is being instigated by a local journalist against whom a defamation case has been filed by police inspector Ramesh Kumar.
Home guard M Jadeswamy of Janata Colony, MM Hills has written to DG & IGP Praveen Sood, seeking investigation into the matter. According to Jadeswamy, he went to MM Hills police station on April 7 to seek information on documents he should submit to rejoin duty. He had been suspended in 2018 when a woman relative and her family filed three cases against him for threatening and insulting them. Two cases were dropped as there was no sufficient evidence and in the third, he was acquitted.
“When I went to the police station, I was illegally detained. Alleging that I had robbed a couple of Rs 22,000 cash and two mobile phones inside a lodge on March 21 this year, they beat me up. On April 8,they took Rs 90,000 from my father and produced me before the tahsildar after booking a petty case,” he claimed
Police said they lodged a Preventive Action Report against Jadeswamy since they had detained him for questioning. Later, Jadeswamy approached senior cops, accusing MM Hills police of extortion.
Cops get clean chit
Deputy superintendent of police (Kollegal) Nagaraj conducted a departmental inquiry and submitted a report on July 3, giving a clean chit to the inspector and others.
The DySP said in his report that Jadeswamy had been accused of robbing a man and woman in a hotel room of money and mobiles. No one, including Jadeswamy’s father, substantiated his claims of police atrocity and the home guard was silent about it when produced before the tahsildar.
The officer said Jadeswamy’s father said he had amicably resolved the dispute with the man and the woman, while no mention of money demanded by police or given to them had been recorded. But Jadeswamy said the DySP and tahsildar were both informed about the illegal detention. He said when he had not robbed any man or woman, the question of amicable settlement does not arise. “My father gave Rs 90,000 to inspector Ramesh, who gave Rs 30,000 to a man, who claimed to have been robbed. I gave an undertaking for the Rs 30,000 in the police station,” Jadeswamy said.
The report read: “The only mistake from our side was the inspector did not register an FIR against Jadeswamy. Some local leaders accompanying the man, claiming to have been robbed, urged us not to file the case as Jadeswamy had returned the cash.” Chamarajnagar SP Divya Sara Thomas said vested interests are at work behind the incident.”