Mumbai Police reinstates three officers held in angadia extortion case

Mumbai: The Mumbai Police have reinstated three of its officers, who were arrested earlier this year in a case of allegedly extorting money from angadias here, an official said on Saturday.

The reinstated police officers are police inspector Om Vangate, assistant police inspector Nitin Kadam, and police sub-inspector Samadhan Jamdade.

They have been reinstated by the Police Establishment Board at the Police Commissionerate level following a review meeting, the official said.

Suspended IPS officer Saurabh Tripathi, who was then Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone -II), is absconding in the case.

The three accused policemen were arrested by the city police’s for their alleged involvement in the crime. They were suspended from the police force and an inquiry was set up against them. All three got bail from the court after the police submitted a charge-sheet in the case, he said.

After their suspension, the officers were getting 50 percent of their salary and after completion of three months under suspension they were getting 75 percent of their salary, the official said. “As the Mumbai police force is already short-staffed, the decision to reinstate them in the force was taken,” he said.

All three have been given non-executive postings and posted at Local Arms Department, where they will be given bandobast duty, he said.

Angadias are traditional couriers who deliver cash sent by traders from one state to another. Angadia system is by and large used in the jewellery business. A complaint filed last December by the Angadia Association in south Mumbai had alleged that Saurabh Tripathi demanded Rs 10 lakh per month from them as a bribe to allow them to run their business smoothly.

Vangate, Kadam and Jamdade – all posted at the Lokmanya Tilak Marg police station, and a domestic help of Tripathi, were later arrested in the case.

As per the complaint lodged by angadias, the accused officials had allegedly extorted money from them on several occasions in December by threatening them.