An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) with the Telangana police was suspended for 'misconduct' on Tuesday after a video allegedly showed him receiving a massage from a woman home guard went viral online.
M Stephen Raveendra, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Hyderabad Range, issued the orders.
Superintendent of Police (SP) MS Vijay Kumar, in a press release, said, "Since the behaviour of ASI Hasan is against the principles of the police department, as per disciplinary action, he is suspended from duties."
Reports also quote Kumar saying that the ASI was apparently suffering from a backache and had requested the home guard to press his back, which she did willingly. Kumar himself, has also denied the allegations that he forced the home guard to give him a massage.
The video which had surfaced earlier, showed the tainted police officer lying on his stomach, while a policewoman in full uniform, is seen massaging his back. The incident took place at Jogulamba Gadwal district earlier, but surfaced recently after the video went viral.
Watch the video below.
On November 4, a similar incident came to fore in which Saroornagar Inspector S Lingaiah was allegedly seen being massaged by his subordinate.
According to media reports, the Inspector ordered his subordinate to visit his home in LB Nagar and asked him to massage him.
In the video, a man is being seen seated in a chair and his face cannot be seen. The video shot from behind shows a second person massaging his shoulders and upper body.
Following the controversial video which went viral, Rachakonda Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat attached Lingaiah to the Commissionerate. An internal inquiry is being carried out by Rachakonda Deputy Commissioner of Police (Admin) Prakash Reddy.
The accused police officers have dismissed allegations in both these cases.
In a video, Lingaiah said that it was a fake video and it was not him, adding, “People who want to defame me have created this video. I strongly condemn this. The person who is been claimed as the victim met with an accident and he is on a sick leave. I don’t make any home guard or constable to work at my home. I don’t have the habit of it.”