A police officer in Darjeeling has been accused of bundling a driver into a police van past midnight and beating him while driving around town in an attempt to extort money from the victim.

Mukesh Chhetri, a truck driver, said he had parked his vehicle laden with pebbles at Judge Bazar because of a traffic jam caused by a religious celebration at Darjeeling Motor Stand on Monday night.

The truck had come from Siliguri.

“Around 1.15am (Tuesday), the patrolling police personnel woke me up from inside the truck, asked for challan and documents and I produced the same. But then I was asked to get inside their van,” said Chhetri.

The driver alleged he was first taken to a spot near Chowrasta.

“Two police constables took me out of the car, held me tightly and the police officer beat me. You can see the bruises too. They again bundled me inside the car and took me to Batasia,” said Chhetri.

Batasia is some 5km from Darjeeling Motor Stand.

The driver alleged that all along the ride he was beaten up and the police officer allegedly demanded Rs 20,000. “I told him I was just a truck driver and had only Rs 500 with me. However, he did not relent,” said Chhetri.

He was left off around 3.30am on Tuesday, he said.

A senior police officer said the officer concerned was assistant sub-inspector Bijay Singh and he had been "closed to the lines". “Proceedings will also be started against him,” the official said.

Chandan Chhetri, general secretary, Darjeeling Truck Drivers’ Association said they sought the accused officer be sacked.

“Police officers have assured us that action will be taken. We, however, want termination of his service. We are ready to approach the high court on this issue, and our association will use our legal adviser and fund to fight this case,” said Chandan.

This is, however, not the first time that such an incident has come to light in Darjeeling.

Last month, a driver from Sikkim, Prem Bahadur Chhetri alleged he was assaulted by a constable and civic volunteer and that the constable had demanded Rs 2,000 from him in Darjeeling.

Prem Bahadur also showed details of the online payment he had allegedly made to the constable’s account.