ACB books two police constables in graft case

Kolhapur: The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) on Tuesday booked two police constables from the Gokul Shiraon police station on the charge of demanding Rs7 lakh from an accused for not registering a fraud case against him.According to an officer from the ACB, the police constables demanded the bribe in the name of the assistant police inspector Gokul Shirgaon. "We are investigating whether the API is involved in this case. These police constables are absconding after the case was registered against them," the officer said.Deputy superintendent of ACB Vaishnavi Patil said, "A complaint of fraud was received at Gokul Shirgaon police station on Jan 16. One of the accused constables called the complainant to the police station and questioned him. Following this another constable called the suspect and wrote a letter to the officer-in-charge, assistant police inspector, to not register a case."A bribe of Rs 7 lakhs was demanded and the amount was later settled to Rs4 lakh, and the amount would have to be delivered within two days. "The suspect filed a complaint with the ACB on the same day. After verifying this, the ACB planned to set a trap to catch the police personnel red-handed while accepting the bribe. However, they did not accept the bribe. Finally, a case was registered against the two on Monday after the demand for a bribe was verified," Patil added.A team led by inspector Rajendra Sanap went to Gokul Shirgaon police station to arrest the accused. However, as soon as the case was registered, both the accused fled from the spot.