Protesters outside the Gandhi Maidan police station on Wednesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Dec. 14: A constable posted at the Gandhi Maidan police station in the heart of the city has been accused of robbing a businessman of Rs 35,000 after intimidating him by wielding uniformed authority.

Manik Sharma, 40, a trader in wood products, today galvanised some of his fellow tradesmen to gherao the police station and bring the culprit to book after being allegedly bullied by the authorities there.

On Monday afternoon, Sharma, a resident of AG Colony area, had gone to the branch of a nationalised bank near Exhibition Road to withdraw money.

“Around 2pm on Monday, I went to the bank with Raju, who works for me. I had Rs 5,000 with me and I withdrew Rs 30,000. I left the bank after about one-and-a-half hours. As I neared the Exhibition Road roundabout on my two-wheeler with Raju sitting pillion around 4pm, I was stopped by a constable,” Sharma told The Telegraph.

According to his police complaint, the constable, who was identified today as Mohammed Akhtar (Batch number: 2968), asked Sharma for the papers of the two-wheeler.

“The constable said the papers were incomplete and started abusing me. I also lost my cool and then he asked me to take out all the money I had and hand it over to Raju. Else, he threatened me with dire consequences. I got scared and did what he said,” Sharma said.

Once he had handed over all the money to Raju, Sharma said, the constable, who is in his mid-thirties, asked him to go to the Dakbungalow roundabout, about 500 metres away, to get his papers “authenticated” by a senior police official.

Sharma obeyed and walked away. About five minutes later, the constable allegedly asked Raju to give all the money to him and proceed to the Dakbungalow roundabout and search for his boss.

“The policeman asked me to keep the money on the bike’s seat and once I had done that, he stuffed it in his pocket. Then he asked me to go and call Sharmaji immediately,” Raju told The Telegraph.

In the meantime, Sharma had reached the Dakbungalow roundabout where he met a police officer in a patrol vehicle and told him the story.

“This officer immediately said I was being duped and asked me to get inside the vehicle. When we reached the spot where the constable had stopped me, we couldn’t see him anywhere. My bike was parked in the same place with the keys in the ignition. The policeman told me to lodge an FIR at the Gandhi Maidan police station,” Sharma said.

He lodged an FIR the same evening but was asked to return the next day for his copy. “When I went the next day, a constable, one of his hands bandaged, suddenly lashed out at me without provocation. He said if his hands were okay, I would have been slapped. This was enough for me. I informed some of my business friends and they decided to come in a big group and gherao the police station today,” Sharma said.

The gherao went on for at least three hours after which the police organised an identification parade.

“Cops on guard in the area were called in and Sharma identified one among them as the constable. His name is Mohammed Akhtar. An investigation into the incident is on,” a police officer at the Gandhi Maidan police station said.

Patna city SP (East) Kim and DSP (Town) Ramakant Prasad were present. “Strict action will definitely be initiated against the policeman if he is found guilty,” Prasad said.