Complaint filed against Bengaluru police for extortion
Police in Bengaluru's Varthur area have been accused of demanding bribes from shopkeepers and waste collectors—mostly migrants from West Bengal—by threatening them with arrest under tobacco laws unless they paid between ₹200 and ₹3,000.
The complaint says nearly 100 shops were targeted in these labor colonies.
Officers also took fingerprint machine used for labor IDs
The alleged extortion reportedly got worse after police began cracking down on loose cigarette sales.
Officers are also accused of taking a fingerprint machine used for labor IDs and asking for ₹23,000 to return it.
Audio and video evidence has been sent to the State Human Rights Commission.
Meanwhile, two other officers in Indiranagar were recently suspended for allegedly extorting money from a differently-abled man, highlighting growing worries about police misconduct in the city.
Investigations into all these cases are ongoing.