JH cops accused of extorting truckers

JOWAI: The Iooksi unit of the Khasi Students’ Union has come out in support of the six persons who were arrested in connection with highway robbery.
The union said Jowai police have arrested “innocent people” who are truck drivers and coal traders from Jaintia Hills.
KSU said police on Tuesday night demanded Rs 1,000 for each truck from coal traders and truck drivers and they refused to pay. One person also recorded the police demanding money in his mobile phone but the phone was snatched away by one of the cops. “The police are extorting money from us and I had a video clip to prove, but they snatched away my mobile phone,” said a coal trader.
KSU said it had approached higher officers to investigate the matter “without bias and punish  those police personnel who are misusing their power”. It also demanded that the mobile phone that was taken away be returned.
The union further said the FIR lodged by the Jowai officer in charge was manipulated and that the report handed out to the media was “a cooked story”.