Inspector, Constable booked for taking bribe from foreigner

A senior Inspector of Railway Police and a Constable allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 50,000 from an overseas businessman to release him from illegal detention and return his belongings, including passport, Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Maharashtra said today.
An FIR in this regard has been registered against Senior Inspector Devram Wadmare, attached to Dadar Railway Police Crime Branch, and Constable Sushil Kharat.
The businessman, who hails from Cameroon and deals in garments, was illegally detained for three days. The 32-year- old was freed only after he paid Rs 50,000 out of the original bribe amount of Rs 1 lakh, an ACB officer told PTI.

The cops were booked for corruption on Saturday.
The victim had on March 14 gone to Kurla railway terminus to board a Hyderabad-bound train. Kharat approached the Cameroonian national and told him he required to go to Dadar to catch a train to the southern city, the ACB said.
On pretext of helping him to reach Dadar station, Kharat took the foreigner to Crime Branch office, where his passport and other belongings were seized.

"Wadmare and Kharat told us they detained the victim suspecting his involvement in drug trade. The foreigner, who arrived here in December last, was asked to shell out Rs five lakh for his release.

"He was illegally kept at the Crime Branch office for three days. Wadmare later agreed to release him for Rs 1 lakh after the victim expressed helplessness to arrange Rs 5 lakh," the Investigating Officer said.
On March 17, the Cameroonian called his friend to Crime Branch office and handed him over some US dollars, which were exchanged and Rs 50,000 was handed over to Wadmare. The businessman was later released.
The victim was told to shell out the remaining amount on March 24. On March 21, he approached ACB and lodged a complaint. The next day, the policemen were booked.

ACB laid a trap last Monday when the victim went to Wadmare's office with Rs 5,000 in cash, instead of Rs 50,000. However, Wadmare did not take the cash but returned the businessman's passport and his three mobile phones, after possibly getting a wind of the trap.
No arrest has been made, but further probe was on, the ACB said, adding searches were conducted at the residences of Wadmare and Kharat.