A day after The Hindu reported that a home guard and a constable harassed a girl and boy at Yapral, the Cyberabad police are initiating departmental action against the two cops, who are attached to the Jawahar Nagar PS. The girl, Pragnya (name changed) and her male friend were called in to give their statements, and they did not want to go through the judicial procedure to protect their identities. When contacted, E. Ramachandra, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Malkajgiri division, said that Pragnya and her friend recorded their statements on Wednesday evening. The incident took place on Sunday evening at Yapral, where home guard identified as P. Shanker, and a constable Danaiah, had accosted the victims. They let them go after taking a bribe.
“The lady did not want to register a case, and requested us to take action against Shanker and Danaiah. Hence, we are initiating strong departmental action against them,” stated Mr. Ramachandra, and added that other details will be out in a few days’ time.
According to a source, the two cops denied that they harassed Pragnya and her friend. Shanker in fact reportedly told the DCP that the girl and boy were ‘misbehaving’ on Sunday evening at Yapral, where they were intercepted. It was also revealed that the two policemen had asked for Rs.2,000, but were given Rs.1,000 instead, after which they let Pragnya go.
While Shanker talked to her, Danaiah ‘handled’ her friend on Sunday evening, said the source. The Cyberabad police are also looking into a complaint made about similar incident which had taken place in March. The victim, a friend of Pragnya, had to reportedly pay Rs.2,500 to three cops after they were accosted while going in a car.
A senior police official said that since it was mentioned in the complaint that a police car was also present in the March incident, it can be verified with the help of GPS tracking, which all police vehicles are fitted with.
Pragnya had complained to the She Teams and the Cyberabad police on Tuesday.
