GUWAHATI: The Dispur police have arrested three Guwahati city police personnel for allegedly looting Rs 20 lakhs from a woman on July 26.
A woman from Mizoram carrying cash amounting to Rs 20 lakhs was allegedly looted by three police personnel in Guwahati on July 25 evening at around 6:40 PM following which the victim lodged a complaint in the Dispur police station at 8 PM.
The victim, a 23-year-old Mizo woman, accompanied by her fiancé and two other boys were moving in an Innova car with the money. They were accompanied by a local guide named Prakash Sonar who hails from Kohima.
As per the complaint, the vehicle in which the victim and her family were travelling was stopped by police personnel in front of Hotel Vivanta by Taj at Khanapara. The police conducted a search during which they came across the money. They then seized the money and claimed to take it to the crime branch, asking the victim to follow behind. Instead of conducting any investigation though, the police personnel fled with the money.
The victim then walked into the Dispur police station demanding to know why the money was taken from her which was allegedly brought to open a gym in the city.
The three accused have been identified as Sub-Inspectors (SI) John Pathar and Pranjal Bora of Hatigaon police station and Home Guard Bipul Hazarika of Dispur police station.
Speaking to G Plus, Commissioner of Police, Deepak Kumar confirmed the incident and said, “The mastermind of the whole incident, Prakash Sonar conducted this loot along with those police officials. As per investigation, it has been found that Sonar gave a tip-off to the home-guard saying that a Mizo family was carrying a huge sum of illegal money. The home guard then took both the sub-inspectors into confidence and planned to loot the money.”
“We have recovered the amount from the accused along with the Innova car that was used in the crime. All the people involved in the incident have been arrested while the driver is absconding. We will take action against all four arrested as per the laws applicable to any criminals,” Kumar added.
Police solves case overnight
Yet again, Guwahati city police has proved its mettle with swift action.
The complaint against the three policemen was registered at around 8 PM and the police succeeded in arresting all four involved in the loot within a couple of hours. By 6 AM, police also succeeded in recovering the Innova car used by the policemen and the cash amount looted by them.
“As they say, there are always two sides of the same coin. In the police force too, there are good cops and bad cops. We deeply regret the incident that took place and the misconduct of our own people, but that shouldn’t hamper the police reputation among the public. Hence, we tried to crack the case at the earliest,” expressed Commissioner of Police, Deepak Kumar.
In an earlier incident too, the Assam Police tracked down a car within minutes. On April 12 last when a car was stolen from near Baihata, 30 kms from Guwahati, the owner of the vehicle tweeted about the theft asking Assam Police for help. The social media team took action upon the tweet immediately and helped the police track down the car within 57 minutes.
In another instance, Assam Police rescued a minor who had posted her intention to commit suicide on Facebook. Police was alerted by Facebook and they saved the girl within 30 minutes after being apprised of the incident. The alertness of Assam Police was also acknowledged by Antigone Davis, Facebook’s Global Safety Head, in a recent interview.
