Four Karnataka policemen, who were taken into custody by Kerala police on the charges of extorting money from a cyberfraud accused, were suspended on Friday.

The suspension order was given by Bengaluru Police Commissioner B. Dayanand who took the decision following a report in this regard by the ACP.  

The suspended policemen were identified as Inspector Shivaprakash, head constables Vijay Kumar, Shivanna and constable Sandesh. All of them were attached to the Cyber Crime, Economic Offences and Narcotics (CEN) police station in Bengaluru.

The accused police officers had gone to Kerala in connection with an online fraud case in which one Chandak Shreekanth was duped of Rs 26 lakh. Shreekanth was contacted by one Neetha Sampath on Telegram who lured him by offering a part time job. The victim was asked to give product reviews and earn money.

Sampath, offering huge returns, got Rs 26 lakh transferred to the account and disappeared after which Chandak registered a police complaint.

The Whitefield CEN police investigated the case, tracked one Issac in Madikeri in Karnataka and found Rs 2 crore transferred to his account.  

After tracking the movements of Issac, the police were led to one Naushad in Kerala.

The accused police team went to Kallemchery in Kerala and took Naushad into custody and allegedly demanded Rs 3 lakh bribe from him. Naushad had lodged a complaint against the Karnataka police in Kalamassery police station alleging that he was threatened to be fixed in a crypto currency case if he failed to give money.

Naushad’s accusation had put the Karnataka police department into a major embarrassing situation.

The Bengaluru Police Commissionerate had sent an ACP ranked officer to Kerala to investigate and ascertain the details.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)