Inspector, 3 other cops booked for molestation, extortion

LUCKNOW Former inspector of Vikas Nagar police station, Dheeraj Shukla, and three other cops were booked for allegedly molesting a 40-year-old woman after barging into her house and demanding money after threatening to book her husband in a fake case, said senior police officials on Thursday.

An FIR was lodged with the Vikas Nagar police station on Tuesday on the direction of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) court and further probe was on in the case. The FIR was registered nearly 10 months after the alleged incident in June 2020. In the mean time, the inspector was transferred from Lucknow to some other district, said officials.

In her complaint, the woman had alleged that Dheeraj Shukla, along with three other policemen, barged into her house in Sector K, Aliganj on June 2, 2020 and took her husband into custody. The woman stated that Shukla threatened to frame her husband in a case and demanded ₹50,000 to spare him, said a police official.

He said the woman mentioned that Shukla even forcibly took away ₹20,000 kept in her house and asked to pay the remaining ₹30,000 in 24 hours. The woman also stated that Shukla again visited her house on June 7, 2020 and tried to molest her. The complaint read that Shukla threatened her with dire consequences and she could not lodge a complaint due to fear as at that time the inspector had already sent her 20-year-old son to jail by framing him in a case of Gangster Act, he added.

The woman reportedly approached the CJM court in the matter after her complaint was allegedly not attended by the city police.

Inspector of Vikas Nagar police station, Anil Singh, said the FIR was lodged under IPC sections 452 (criminal house trespass after preparation to hurt), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (attempts to contact such woman to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest) and 384 (demanding extortion in the matter). He said the police were probing the matter and crosschecking the genuineness of the woman’s allegations.