The cops abducted and threatened the Muslim duo Salauddin Kathat and Shaikh Kadar Bashi to seize the gold. The incident took place on 20th December at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.
Ghazala Ahmad | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — Two Delhi Police head constables, Gaurav Kumar and Robin Singh, were arrested on Sunday for allegedly threatening and extorting gold worth Rs50 lakhs from two Muslim men, Salauddin Kathat and Shaikh Kadar Bashi, at Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal 3.
The cops abducted and threatened the Muslim duo to seize the gold. The incident took place on 20th December when both the men were returning from Dubai.
They were stopped at the airport by the policemen and were taken to a police station. From there the two policemen took Kathat to a forest nearby and forcefully took the capsulated 600 gram of gold, Kathat alleged.
An FIR was registered at IGI Airport police station on a complaint filed by Kathat on 24th December.
“They forcefully took me into their police Gypsy after stopping my taxi, which I took from the airport to go home. When I arrived at the police station, I was questioned about the gold. After that, they led me into a forest, where they thrashed me and threatened me. I gave them the gold out of fear. They damaged my SIM card, and put my phone on reset mode. They gave me some money and asked me to leave in a cab which was booked by them. They intimidated and told me to keep the incident to myself and not take any legal action,” Kathat claimed in his complaint.
“The policemen threatened me and took the gold. The gold was worth Rs 50.6 lakh,” Kathat said.
Kathat, 24, is a resident of Pali district in Rajasthan. He joined a construction company in Qatar in 2020 but due to meager salary he left the job and returned to India. After some time, in search of work, he went to Muscat but again came back because of miserable work conditions, the complaint says.
In Muscat, he met Sikander, a resident of Rajasthan, who asked him to deliver some gold to Delhi in return for some money.
Kathat alleged that as soon as he reached Delhi, he was abducted by the two cops.
On the same day, Shaikh Kadar Bashi, who had also come from Dubai, also fell prey to the same two cops. His 400 grams of gold was also extorted from him, as per the complaint.
Both the complaints were clubbed by the police and an FIR of mischief and extortion was filed against the two policemen.
Both the cops were arrested on Sunday after a probe and suspended immediately.
A senior police officer at IGI Airport police station said both policemen were posted at the airport for some time. “We got to know that they targeted passengers and looted gold items. An inquiry was set up and when their guilt was proved they were suspended.”
