Bihar top cop booked for extortion

A senior Bihar police officer has been booked for allegedly demanding Rs. 10 crore from a liquor merchant. Saran deputy inspector general of police Alok Kumar has been accused of extortion, the police said on Sunday. Three persons, alleged to be middlemen, have been arrested and Rs. 5 lakh has been recovered from them.

"In a complaint to Abhayanand director general of police on January 13, liquor merchant Tunnaji Pandey alleged the DIG had demanded Rs. 10 crore as extortion, involving a middle-man," inspector general of police Nilekar Chandra said.

"On Pandey's complaint, the DGP constituted a team for verification of the complaint. On January 18, a case was registered. The phone of DIG and his three alleged aides were put under surveillance the police found corroborative evidence," she told the media.

Kumar is the second serving IPS officer to be accused of corruption charges. Last year, the then Sheikhpura SP Ansuiya Ransing Sahu had been suspended on corruption charges.