New Delhi: Two Delhi Police officers were on Saturday arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation here for demanding a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a fellow officer to settle a rape case against him — filed by another cop, officials here said, adding that one of the accused was caught red-handed accepting the first installment of the bribe (Rs 50,000) in a trap laid by the CBI.
According to the FIR registered by the agency, Sub-Inspector Manoj, accused in a rape case by a woman constable, approached them with a complaint against officers of the Malaviya Nagar police station, when he was asked to pay a bribe to "settle" the case against him — by the case's investigating officer.
The complainant said that Sub-Inspector Romi, the IO and Assistant Sub-Inspector Lekhram were demanding a bribe to settle the case they were investigating against him. According to verification reports available with the CBI, ASI Lekhram had allegedly offered to file a status report favouring him in the High Court and had said he would let SI Manoj look at the status report before finalising it.
Significantly, SI Manoj had approached a local court for anticipatory bail in the case, filed a few months ago. While the court had denied him relief in the case, his plea in the Delhi High Court is being heard with the next date of hearing on October 11.
However, not wanting to pay the bribe, SI Manoj approached the CBI with a complaint against the police officials, even naming the Station House Officer of the police station in his complaint. But the CBI has not named him as an accused in the case.
According to the CBI, agency sleuths first established SI Romi's suspected involvement when they sent in the complainant to meet her with a wiretap. As per the recordings, the CBI said, SI Romi was being very cautious and that she also spoke of the bribe but never mentioned any exact amount — directing the complainant to ASI Lekhram.
At the next meeting with ASI Lekhram, the CBI caught the cop on tape asking for
Rs 1 lakh in bribe from SI Manoj and offering to settle the case. He was also heard saying that the amount should be paid in two installments of
Rs 50,000 each.