Faridabad policeman eats cash to escape bribery soup

FARIDABAD: With a vigilance team closing in, a sub-inspector who had seconds to hide cash he had just taken as bribe trusted his gut. He chewed up two notes of Rs 2,000 each.
In dramatic scenes that followed to retrieve the clinching wad of evidence that would incriminate the cop for bribery, the vigilance team tried to get sub-inspector Mahendra Pal to cough it out.
A video of the incident, which took place in Ballabhgarh on Monday, was widely circulated on social media. The 1.38-minute clip shows two officials trying to coax the cash out of Pal while the SI resists, doggedly chewing on the notes as a scuffle ensues. At one point, the sub-inspector is on the ground while the officials stand over him, physically trying to stop him from gulping the cash down.
According to vigilance officials, Pal, posted at the Sector 3 station, had sought a bribe of Rs 10,000 from Deshraj, who had filed a case over a stolen buffalo last year.
The dispute began when Shambhu Yadav, a resident of Sector 3, agreed to sell a cow to Deshraj for Rs 30,000. Deshraj paid Rs 10,000, but the remaining amount was pending. In this time, one of Deshraj's buffaloes was stolen, and he reached out to the cops, alleging that Yadav's grandson was involved.
The SI demanded the bribe to settle the dispute between the two sides. Deshraj had paid Pal Rs 6,000 and had promised that he would pay the rest. Deshraj reached out to the state vigilance team and, together, they laid down a trap to catch Pal taking a bribe.
On Monday, Deshraj called Pal, saying he was ready to pay the remaining Rs 4,000. Pal, who was attending a wedding ceremony at the time, told him to come to the venue.