Representational.
Lucknow: In BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, three policemen ran a fake police station in Kasba outpost, where they locked people for false charges and demanded ransoms. The accused three turned a portion of a rubber factory in Kasba into a police station setting, complete with fake lock up and carried on their kidnap and ransom racket for a year, The Telegraph reported.
What finally caught them was their greed after they attempted to trap the son of their latest victim with a second random, which they demanded immediately after the first was already settled. The victim’s son decided to approach senior officers, leading to the downfall of the three on Friday.
The three accused were identified as sub-inspector Balbir Singh and constables Himanshu Tomar and Mohit Kumar. They allegedly barged into the home of a farmer in Bhitaura village and accused the households of possessing drugs and illegal items.
The accused placed an illegal pistol on a chair beside the farmer’s son and filmed them to make evidence to prove their charges against the family.
The farmer told local reporters that sub-inspector Singh said that the farmer was selling illegal drugs and weapons at his home, and the accused ransacked his home before putting him in lock-up in the rubber factory. The farmer added that his household did not recognize that it wasn’t a real police station.
Then, the accused demanded Rs 2 lakh from the farmer’s family, and when they paid the ransom, the accused did not release him but demanded more. That is when his son mustered the courage to approach higher officials, the farmer said.
Utta Pradesh Police informed that the accused three are on the run. However, they suspended them and booked them for multiple criminal offences, including trespassing, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, threatening and demanding valuables, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation, and intentional insult.
Meanwhile, another UP cop, requesting anonymity, said that the Uttarakhand Police informed UP Police a few months ago that sub-inspector Singh was smuggling heroin between the two states.