Malda police benched three civic volunteers on Friday for allegedly demanding money from a pick-up van driver on Thursday and severely beating him up when he offered a sum less than what they sought.
The trio were posted at the Harishchandrapur police station. The police have initiated a probe based on the complaint filed by Ruhul Amin, the injured driver.
Amin said that on Thirsday he was going to Bangrua, a village under Harishchandrapur police station, on his vehicle when he was stopped at a checkpoint in Bhelbari near the Bengal-Bihar border.
“I stopped the vehicle. I had cattle in the van and was going to deliver those to buyers who had purchased the animals from a weekly market at Dalkhola in North Dinajpur,” said the driver.
“The civic volunteers demanded ₹1,000 from me. I am a poor man. I offered ₹500. This irked them. They asked me to get out of the vehicle,” Amin said.
He said the trio took him to a room near the checkpoint. “There, they started beating me indiscriminately. I raised an alert and some locals rushed to the spot to help me,” he said.
Some of the residents shot videos as the trio thrashed Amin. “Seeing them, the trio alleged I had damaged the guard rail at the checkpoint to conceal the real fact. Their allegation was totally false,” said the driver.
Some locals helped Amin to reach a local hospital. Later, he filed a complaint with Harishchandrapur police.
Sources close to the civic volunteers accused the driver of speeding and hitting one of the guard rails.
Senior police officials checked the CCTV footage and videos of the incident.
“Based on the preliminary report, those three civic volunteers have been closed to the district police lines and an inquiry has been initiated,” said Pradeep Kumar Yadav, the Malda district superintendent of police.
“We are gathering CCTV footage and other videos. Once we get the final report from the local police station, appropriate steps will be taken,” he added.