In a case that smacks of the misuse of police power, a young man has been forced to go from one police station to another for two days to try and retrieve his seized digital camera.
The camera, a Sony DSC Hx Cyber-shot worth Rs. 18,000, was allegedly confiscated by the police from 24-year-old Umesh Karmakar, when he was stopped by a patrol team in Triplicane, late on Tuesday night.
Umesh, a native of Jharkhand, completed his B.Tech from SRM University last April and lives in Vadapalani. He said it all began after he came to Triplicane on Tuesday night to meet a friend and ended up having a drink alone as his friend was not available.
Around 12.30 a.m. he was talking on his mobile phone and walking on Bells Road towards the bus stop to take a bus to Vadapalani.
“A patrol vehicle with two policemen intercepted me and questioned me. I answered in the little Tamil I know. One officer asked me about the camera in my shirt pocket and I handed it over to him as demanded. He asked me to come to the Triplicane police station in the morning and collect the camera,” Karmakar told The Hindu on Thursday, outside the Ice House police station, the fourth one he had been sent to in his attempt to retrieve his camera.
On Wednesday morning, Karmakar arrived at the Triplicane station, but after claiming ignorance about the camera for two hours, police personnel there asked him to go to the Anna Square station. From there, he was directed to the Zam Bazaar station and then further on to the Ice House station on Thursday afternoon.
At Ice House, he was told to stand outside to identify the officers who had taken the camera from him.
“I bought the camera only a couple of weeks ago on July 13 after months of saving. But I have faith in the city police and I’m confident that I will get back my camera. It is just that I need to find the right officer,” Karmakar said.
