7 cops punished for demanding bribe

Hyderabad: Seven police constables working in Special Branch of city police commissonerate were punished following the complaints from citizens that the cops demanded money to clear the passport applications.

Despite the State government’s reformative measure of providing Rs 75,000 to each police station in State capital, to meet the monthly administrative expenses, the cops at lower cadre seem to have not received the funds and are seen continuing their old practice of demanding money from the public.

Upon receiving several complaints from the public on the irregularities by the special branch police, who are demanding money to clear the passport applications, the city police launched Citizen Feedback System (CFS) to note the behaviour of the constables and other staff.

In the first week of October 2015, the personnel of CFS randomly called the passport applicants to take feedback on the service delivered by the special branch constables, who had attended their duty of verifying the authenticity of the applicant.

During the interaction, the CFS personnel learnt that as many as seven constables posted in various police stations under city commissionerate have demanded money from the applicants to clear their applications.

Following the feedback, the senior cops have made an inquiry and found the allegations against the constables true.

On October 23, the city police commissioner initiated action against the errant policemen and removed them from their regular duties of attending to the passport verification. The seven police constables are attached to the Central Armed Reserve headquarters in Hyderabad as punishment.

Confirming the incident, Special Branch Additional Commissioner Y Nagi Reddy said that through the Citizen Feedback System, they came to know about the irregular practices of the constables. He said after an inquiry, the seven constables were punished accordingly.