Title - RPF cops held for accepting bribe

PUNE: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday night arrested an inspector and a constable from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 from a railway travel agent.A special court on Tuesday sent inspector B B Sirpor and constable Santosh Mani in CBI custody till April 5.The CBI said that the complainant Vinod Kale, a travel agent, operates in the premises of the Pune railway station. In his complaint, Kale alleged that four RPF cops were demanding a bribe of Rs 25,000 for permitting him to continue operations. The cops threatened to implicate Kale in a false case under the Railway Act if their demand was not met, the CBI stated.Taking cognisance of Kale's complaint, a CBI team headed by deputy superintendent of police Rajpal Singh (anti-corruption bureau) laid a trap and nabbed Sirpor around 9.15 pm after he directed Mani to accept the bribe from Kale.Rajpal produced Sirpor and Mani before the special court and filed a plea for seeking their CBI custody for five days.

Special public prosecutors Vivek Saxena and Ayub Pathan told the court that the custodial interrogation of the cops was essential to find out the bribe share received by the other RPF cops from various travel agents. The prosecutors pleaded to give sufficient time to probe the role of senior officials involved in the racket. The prosecution feared that the cops may tamper with evidence and may influence witnesses if their custody was refused.

Defence counsel S Shaikh, representing the cops, opposed the CBI's plea on the ground that the agency had completed investigations in the bribe case and had seized the bribe money. Shaikh submitted that the custodial interrogation of the cops was not essential as the complainant was an illegal agent. He argued that his clients be remanded in judicial custody.

After hearing both sides, special court judge Sudhakar Yarlagadda considered the prosecution's plea and sent the cops in CBI custody for three days.