City police commissioner Vineet Goyal called classical vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan and his wife Joyeeta Basu Khan on Thursday and assured them that police were looking into their complaint of an alleged extortion attempt on the family’s driver early on Wednesday by a section of officers on EM Bypass.
“The police commissioner had called Rashid and he took me on a conference call. We were told that the police were looking into the matter and there was nothing to be scared about,” Basu Khan said.
On Wednesday, she had alleged that the police had stopped their car on EM Bypass and threatened to implicate the driver in a drink-driving case if he did not pay Rs 2,000.
Basu Khan said the vehicle was on its way to the airport to drop off musicians who had performed with Rashid Khan at a show.
“A cop demanded Rs 2,000 from our driver but when our manager who was in the car said he had only Rs 40 on him as parking fee, the cop threatened to prosecute the driver for drink-driving,” Basu Khan had told The Telegraph.
The police said a drive against drink driving was on when the car was passing through at 3.12am. Like other drivers, Khan’s driver was made to blow through a breathalyser that gave a reading of over 67 mg/100ml.
Under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, a person can be imprisoned for up to six months or fined Rs 2,000 if the reading exceeds 30mg per 100ml.
A team of officers spoke to Basu Khan and took down her statement at her Naktala residence late on Thursday.
The Khans had not lodged any formal complaint till late on Thursday.
An officer of the rank of joint police commissioner along with a deputy commissioner of police of the division have been entrusted to carry out a probe into the allegations.
“As part of the probe, officers will record statements of all involved,” an officer said.
Basu Khan had alleged the car was taken to Pragati Maidan police station, from where the driver called her. “I asked him to put the phone on speaker and spoke to the cops. I was told there was a drink-driving case against him and that if I wanted my car back, I had to give an application,” she said.
The police then found the car was registered in Rashid Khan’s name. He went and signed the application. The driver got bail later in the day.
