The flying squad, which included two constables, allegedly threatened and extorted ₹85,000 from a flower merchant, without any due procedure.
Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, police registered a case against five members of a poll flying squad, including two constables, for allegedly threatening and extorting ₹85,000 from a flower merchant in Thane.
In the incident, which took place on October 18 at Mharal Naka, the accused violated the model code of conduct which has been imposed for the November 20 elections, the FIR registered in the matter said.
An official from the Ulhasnagar police station noted that the flower businessman and his friend were en route to Ahmednagar and Pune in a car, carrying ₹7.5 lakh in cash to pay farmers for purchases that were made during Dussehra.
The accused flying squad intercepted the businessman’s car which was moving towards Murbad, threating him and his friend of cash seizure and case registration against them.
The police official said that the accused allegedly extorted ₹85,000 from the flower merchant, news agency PTI reported.
Police registered a case against the accused after probing the complaint filed by a poll official.
The flying squad did not mention the money to their seniors and neither did they follow the set protocol for such raids and seizure.
After a poll official filed a complaint into the matter and investigation took place, a case by the Ulhasnagar police was registered against five persons for offences under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) Sections 308(2) (extortion), 198 (public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person), 134 (assault or criminal force in attempt to commit theft of property carried by a person) and 3(5) (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all), the police official said.
Notably, the model code of conduct in Maharashtra was enforced in the second week of October.
The incident comes just two days after a vigilance squad team of the district election office lodged an FIR against a hotel owner from Hadaspur for putting up an air balloon to canvass Shiv Sena candidate Vijay Shivtare.
The complainant, Shekhar Amardeep Kamble, is an agriculture-related government official posted at Saswad who has been assigned as the chief of the flying squad for the Purandar assembly segment.
Upon investigation, police found the hotel owner to be in violation of the model code of conduct for depicting Shivtare’s election symbol on the air balloon.
Polling for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will take place on November 20 and the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on November 23.
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