Cop suspended for fake encounter

An assistant police sub inspector who tried to get a truck driver involved in a fake encounter and forced him to pay a bribe of over Rs 53,000, saying he had detected a explosives placed in his truck has been arrested and later suspended from service.

The arrest and subsequent suspension of assistant sub inspector, Ankush Kharat, of the Begumpura police was, however, not easy, and came only after two days of hectic follow up by the company the truck driver worked for, as the police station kept delaying filing of a complaint.

Ankush Kharat, though in uniform, was actually not on duty when he tried to intercept the truck that Sunil Sampat Nighare was driving on Saturday. Nighare neglected Kharat's signal to stop and sped past him, not knowing the cop would give him a hot chase. Riding a two-wheeler, Kharat, managed to block the truck, after a eight kilometer chase, and managed to stop the truck. Kharat, was accompanied by a local goon, who did enough to scare the driver to submit to a thorough search of the truck.

Within minutes of the search, Kharat's aid, declared he had come across something incriminating --- bomb explosives in the truck. The driver, Nighare, could not know how could explosives get on his truck and pleaded ignorance. But, Kharat, with a well rehearsed threat, let Nighare know that he had enough evidence to declare him a suspected terrorist and bring up charges which could keep him behind the bars for his entire life.

After much pleading, Kharat allowed the driver to call an official from his company and arrange for the one lakh bribe that he was demanding to set him free. Very soon an officer did turn up and Kharat somehow managed to convince him of his findings. The bribe was finally settled at Rs 53,000, paid and the truck and driver freed.

When the official later discussed the matter with the driver he realised how Kharat had trapped them. But the Begumpura police would hear nothing of it and advised him to forget the money or file a complaint against Kharat. It was only when the official took the matter up to the commissioner of police, Uddhav Kamble, that the Begumpura police filed the complaint and arrested Kharat.

The next day on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner of Police, MB Tamble, issued an order to suspend Kharat, who is currently under police custody.