• I Paid A Bribe
  • 9 years ago
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Date: 29th Nov 14 Time: 20:15 hrs Location: Vashi Plaza Description…

Reported on December 4, 2014 from Navi Mumbai , Maharashtra  ι Report #47791

Date: 29th Nov 14
Time: 20:15 hrs
Location: Vashi Plaza
Description of Cop:
Male, 25-35 years, about 5 ft 10 inches tall,
Medium dark skinned, black cropped hair, mustache,
Was wearing a khaki uniform with a grey and red jacket,
Was traveling on a red bike

On 29th November 2014, at 20:15 hrs, a male friend and me (female) were traveling in a black and yellow cab from Vashi plaza towards Sanpada.

I had picked up my friend in the cab from the Vashi Plaza bus stop. As soon as he entered the cab, he gave me a customary hug to greet me and within 2 minutes of him getting into the cab, a police cop on a bike came up behind us, angrily signalling to the driver to stop the car.

He entered the cab and aggressively started to shout at us saying that we had been "behaving indecently in public". He started telling the driver to take us to the Vashi police station. He asked the driver what he had seen with regards to our "indecent behaviour" and the driver responded that he had seen nothing. He strong-armed the driver by asking him "Are you on my side or their side?". I tried to get out of the cab, but the cop told the driver not to stop the car.

He claimed that the road we were on was a "Sarvajanik road". He further claimed that the people at the bus stop were the ones who alerted him of the "indecent behavior". Since we were a considerable distance away from the bus stop on the highway we were unable to validate the claim. Further, we had no scope of going back considering the incessant aggression that we were being subjected to.

My friend asked the cop to calm down, to which he responded by asking my friend to step out of the cab and talk separately. The cop insisted that I stay in the cab. He asked my friend for INR 20,000. My friend negotiated with him and the cop agreed to a bribe of INR 5000.

We had only INR 2500 with us in cash. He took this money and insisted that we drive to an ATM to withdraw the rest. He made the driver take us to and SBI ATM right opposite the Sanpade railway station. When me and my friend tried to get out of the cab together to get the money, he started insisting that I continue to stay in the car. I refused and went with my friend to the ATM. We withdrew the remaining INR 2500 and gave it to the cop in the cab. He then made us drive back towards where he had stopped his bike, after which he left the cab.

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