The Bengaluru City Police arrested eight policemen including a Sub Inspector in the last two weeks over crimes related to demonetisation and dismissed them from service, a Deccan Herald report states.
According to a statement released by the police, the dismissed policemen had indulged in dacoity of legal tender notes of Rs 100 and Rs 2,000 on the pretext of exchanging old currency to new ones, the DH report said.
The dismissed officers include NC Mallikarjun, an SI at the Kalasipayam police stattion, his collegues Manjunatha Moggad, LK Girish, Chandrashekar and Anantharaju, who are constables, head constable Mayura and constable Nayak attached to the Girinagar police station and B Shesha of the Central Crime Branch.
All the eight policemen were arrested in separate cases, the report states.
Former SI, Mallikarjun and the four constables have been accused of stealing Rs 35.5 lakh of new currency notes near Peenya on November 22. They were nabbed on December 5 after Gangadhar, a mobile shop owner from Tumakuru, lodged a complaint with the Peenya police stating that he was robbed of his money by a gang of seven. Besides the five policemen, a police informant and his aide were also arrested in the case, the DH report states.
On December 4, Head Constable Mayura and constable Nayak were held for helping a businessman dupe a woman named Sukhanya of Rs 8 lakh in demonetised notes.
The constable attached to the Organised Crime wing of the Central Crime Branch, and three others were arrested on November 30 for kidnapping a businessman and his friend and robbing them of Rs 25.2 lakh of new currency notes, the report adds.
The Department of Home Affairs, in a review meeting with CM Siddaramaiah ordered officials to take stringent action against the accused policemen and had also instructed that their services be terminated in order to uphold the integrity of the police force in the state, the report said.