Two cops booked in Hyderabad for harassing pub owner for bribe

Hyderabad, Oct 6: Telangana’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has booked two police officers and a home guard attached to the Banjara Hills police station here for demanding bribe from a pub owner and harassing him after he failed to meet their demand.

Inspector M. Narender, sub-inspector S. Naveen Reddy and home guard Hari have been booked for criminal misconduct. They were harassing the pub management by registering a false case.

According to ACB, Narender had demanded Rs 4.5 lakh as ‘mamool’ for a period of three months from Rock Club Sky Lounge for not harassing the pub management and for smooth running of the establishment. He later reduced the bribe amount to Rs 3 lakh.

The home guard also demanded Rs 10,000 from Neela Rajeshwar Laxman Rao, Managing Partner, Rock Club Sky Lounge. Hari also made several WhatsApp calls for the bribe.

When Laxman Rao refused to pay the bribe, the inspector started harassing him by registering a false case against him with the assistance of the sub-inspector.

The ACB said that on the intervening night of September 30 and October 1, the sub-inspector on the direction of the inspector went to the pub and unnecessarily called Rao out of the pub to the police vehicle standing on the road, forcibly took him inside the police vehicle and detained him at the Banjara Hills police station for hours together.

As Rao was unable to arrange the bribe amount and the accused officers were constantly harassing him, he then approached the ACB and filed a complaint. The ACB registered a case against the accused officers after preliminary verification. The case is under investigation and further action will be taken as per the due process of law, the anti-graft agency said.

If any public servant demands a bribe, citizens can contact the ACB on the toll-free number 1064.