Ahmedabad: Two days ago, a couple from South Bopal along with their 1-year-old child were forcibly taken to an unidentified place by two traffic policemen and a TRB (traffic regulation brigade) Jawan in the Ognaj area here. The couple was returning home from SVPI airport after a vacation in Thailand. Sola High Court police station has now added relevant sections under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) against the accused. However, the Police have yet not added the sections of Kidnapping against the accused.

Milan Kela, aged 33, residing near Sobo Centre in South Bopal, alleged that Vishal Solanki, a TRB Jawan, along with two police personnel, ASI Mukesh Chaudhary and Constable Ashok Patel, coerced him and his wife Priyanka into giving them Rs 60,000 while they were traveling in a taxi with their one-year-old child. The incident occurred on August 25th.

Initially, the Sola police had registered a complaint of extortion and abetment, but they have now added sections under the Prevention of Corruption Act. However, the sections pertaining to kidnapping are not applied, in spite of the complainant saying he was indeed kidnapped.

The Police had on the first day avoided giving the names of the accused to the media. Contrary to other newsy cases, police had not released photographs of the accused on the social media platforms in this case. Relevant sections were also not added in the FIR initially. The practice of city police of chasing the NRIs and foreign return persons on the way to their destination from Ahmedabad airport is very well known to all. Police check the luggage and extort the passengers if a liquor bottle is found. Lots of NRIs and other passengers have passed through such horrific late-night practice of extortion by cops. As this was allowed silently by the people and there was no action by higher-ups, the extorters in uniform went one step ahead to extort the foreign return persons even without finding any objectionable items in the luggage or possession.

The Times of India has reported several such complaints in its article today:

The Times of India has today also reported that initial attempts were made to arrive at a compromise, but after the intervention of the city police commissioner, G. S. Malik, an FIR was registered. The police are also investigating whether the accused had a history of engaging in extortion. ACP B division H M Kansagra is the investigating officer (IO) for the case.

The couple was on their way home to Bopal after landing at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport from a Bangkok trip. The officers accused them of violating regulations by being out late and demanded a bribe to avoid legal trouble. They took Kela to an ATM in the Ganesh Glory building in Jagatpur, where he withdrew Rs 40,000 and handed it over. Subsequently, they coerced Priyanka into transferring Rs 20,000 to the taxi driver’s account. The officers instructed the driver to withdraw the money from an ATM and hand it over. Before leaving, the accused officers warned the couple not to reveal the incident to anyone. DeshGujarat

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