Cop had sought bribe for arrest of rape accused, speedy probe

Displaying insensitivity to the core, a police officer in Bihar demanded bribe from a traumatised rape victim for no service other than to ensure the arrest of the accused and to take the investigation into the case in the right direction.

But the game of the "extortionist in uniform" was up when the girlfs father, unable to afford the bribe sought, lodged a complaint against him with the state vigilance bureau (SVB). Acting on the written complaint, SVB officials laid a trap for Jag Narayan Ram, the station house officer (SHO) of Narhat police station in Nawada district of south-central Bihar, about 100 km from Patna.

They caught him in the act of accepting a bribe. Acting on a complaint, an SVB team led by deputy superintendent of police Maharaja Kanishk Singh laid a trap on Thursday. It caught Ram in the act of accepting R10,000 from the victim's father, in his police station office. This was the first instalment of the Rs 20,000 sought as bribe, said additional director general of police (vigilance) P K Thakur. Thakur said, the SHO had demanded the bribe for ensuring the arrest of the accused in the case of rape of the woman, a native of Badalpur village under Narhat police station of Nawada, and to carry out eexpeditious investigationf in the matter.

The accused SHO was produced in a vigilance court in Patna on Friday. In his written complaint to the SVB, the victimfs father said she had been raped by another resident of the same village, on September 2, 2012. "However, the Narhat SHO, who is the investigating officer in the case, told me that the deputy SP concerned, in his supervision report, would declare the rape charge of my daughter as untrue, unless I paid him a bribe of Rs 20,000,the man said in his complaint. The victimfs father also said in the complaint that supervisory officer was not going to the spot for investigation.