A software engineer has accused the Bellandur police of demanding a bribe to return her mobile phone that she lost while riding in an Uber cab.
Following her complaint, the police had tracked and recovered the phone.
Posting her complaint on the Bengaluru City Police Facebook page, Ritu Rawat said she had to negotiate with the police and paid Rs 2,500 to get her mobile phone back.
Ritu mentioned in the post that her friend left the phone in the cab. “We were sure that cab driver had taken it, we went to Bellandur police station, we gave the driver’s number and cop called the driver and he was scared and next day, he returned the phone at the station stating that he told police that he found it in the car,” Ritu’s post read. “When we went to collect the phone, the policeman at the station asked half of the phone’s value (as bribe), which is Rs 7,000, for returning the phone.”
She threatened to take the matter to the superior officers, but that only prompted the policeman to demand more bribe. “In the end, having no way out, we paid him Rs 2,500 and got the phone,” she said.
She tagged City Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar in the post, who directed senior jurisdictional police officers to look into the matter. Following direction from the senior police, Bellandur police inspector summoned all the staff and recorded their statements.
“I have questioned the staff about the incident, but they are saying they’re not aware of it. So, we wrote to Ritu Rawat asking her to visit the station and identify the staff who demanded and accepted the bribe from her,” he said.