Pune: Three personnel of the Highway Safety Patrol and three traffic wardens allegedly attempted to extort Rs5 lakh from a tourist by threatening arrest, after falsely claiming drugs had been found in his car.The tourist’s friend filed a complaint with the Kamshet Police. Assistant police inspector Aakash Pawar of the Kamshet police said, “We are yet to ascertain their identities. But we have detained three for questioning.”Pawar said that on Monday afternoon, the complainant, and his friend’s wife and brother from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, were heading towards Lonavla. After crossing the Kamshet tunnel, a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) forced them to stop.“Three policemen in khaki uniforms and two others wearing traffic police uniforms and fluorescent jackets with ‘Highway Traffic Police’ printed on them told the complainant that their senior, wanted to speak to him,” Pawar said.“The man sitting in the MPV claimed that drugs had been found in the car,” the officer said. The other men frisked his friend and threatened to arrest him for carrying a cigarette pack and demanded Rs 5 lakh to avoid taking action.“As they did not have the money, the accused asked them to accompany them to Talegaon and withdraw cash from an ATM,” he said.When they reached Talegaon Dabhade, the complainant’s friend sent an SOS message using his smartwatch. The Pimpri Chinchwad police control room received the alert, and dispatched a team to the spot. “When the accused realised police had been alerted, they fled,” Pawar said.
