Mumbai: Three Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel have been dismissed from service following a departmental inquiry for assaulting and extorting money from a jeweller in the presence of his minor daughter at Mumbai Central Terminus last year.Their dismissal order, issued on March 30, stated that assistant sub-inspector Lalit Jagtap, constable Rahul Bhosle, and constable Anil Rathod, all attached to the Mumbai Central GRP chowky, harassed the jeweller despite him providing an explanation for the valuables that he was carrying.The trio had been placed under suspension following the incident on August 10, 2025. They were currently posted at GRP’s Ghatkopar headquarters.The incident took place when the jeweller and his eight-year-old daughter, who were visiting Mumbai for Raksha Bandhan, were to board the Duronto Express to return home to Rajasthan. The jeweller’s brother-in-law accompanied them to Mumbai Central Terminus.Around 10.30pm, the group reached platform no. 5 when a uniformed man seated at a table stopped them for baggage check. The GRP cop, who wasn’t wearing a name tag, found a 14gm gold biscuit wrapped in paper and Rs 31,000 cash in the luggage. The jeweller explained that he had attended a jewellery exhibition in Mumbai, besides visiting his sister for Raksha Bandhan. But the cop was not satisfied and summoned another uniformed colleague, also not wearing his name tag. They took the jeweller, his daughter, and brother-in-law outside the terminus through an alley to a room where a third cop was seated. They claimed he was a “senior”.They hurled abuses and slapped the jeweller, and threatened to lock him up overnight. “I was slapped twice in front of my daughter who began crying,” the jeweller had told TOI last year. The cops threatened to produce the gold biscuit before a magistrate and asked him to arrange for a copy of his Aadhaar card over the phone. They also forced the jeweller to sign a few blank sheets of paper.Just five minutes before his train was to depart, at 10.55pm, the cops returned his gold, but kept the cash. When the jeweller pleaded, they returned Rs 1,900 and advised him to run if he wanted to board his train on time. The traumatised jeweller registered a police complaint in Rajasthan on August 16. It was subsequently transferred to Mumbai Central GRP and then to the Railway Crime Branch. “In seven months, GRP has completed a departmental probe and dismissed the cops, sending a strong message that corruption and extortion will not be tolerated,” said activist Sameer Zaveri.
