ACB catches cops on the wrong foot………..Jyoti Shelar
Mira Road resident Umesh Dowra unknowingly bought a stolen mobile phone last week, but soon after he was being blackmailed by two constables. However, when the 17-year-old heard about the Anti Corruption Bureau, he decided to turn the tables on the police officials.
On Saturday, constable Chandrakant Sawant and Pandurang Joshi from Malad police station were nabbed by the ACB for accepting a bribe from Dowra.
Dowra, who works in his uncle’s jewellery shop at Mira Road, had purchased a second-hand Sony Ericsson mobile phone from Indraprasth Shopping Complex, Borivili. After he inserted his SIM card in the mobile phone, he immediately received a call from Malad police asking him to come to the station. There he met constables Sawant and Joshi.
“They interrogated Dowra and he gave them all the details about the phone and where he bought it from,” said assistant commissioner of police Anil Waghmare, ACB.
Joshi, who was handling the case, allegedly told Dowra that he would have to pay Rs20,000 if he didn’t want to get involved in the case and to avoid continuous police interrogation. Scared, Dowra paid Rs2,500 to Joshi on July 9 and promised to arrange for the remaining amount in a few days.
However, when a relative told him about the ACB, Dowra immediately got in touch with them and laid a trap to nab the two constables. On Saturday night, Joshi informed Dowra that his colleague Sawant would be meeting him at Mira Road to collect the rem-aining amount.
When Sawant arrived around 10.30 pm, Dowra handed him a packet containing Rs5,000 cash. But even before the ACB officials could act, Sawant rode away on his bike. Finally, the ACB officers went to Malad police station and arrested both Sawant and Joshi.
The duo has been remanded in the ACB custody till July 16.