A 45-year-old woman who posed as a police inspector and extorted Rs 65,000 from a Bangladeshi woman was arrested by the Hebbagodi police in south-east Bangalore on Friday.

The Bangladeshi woman Rashida Begum had been strip searched and harassed by the woman at the D-Mart supermarket in Hebbagodi. The Bangladeshi woman had earlier been detained by security staff at the supermarket on suspicion of shoplifting after she failed to bill a pair of slippers that was in her shopping cart. The Bangladeshi woman who had come to Bangalore for the medical treatment of her husband filed a complaint with the Hebbagodi police alleging that a woman who claimed to be a police inspector took away Rs 65,000 that was meant for the treatment of her husband.
The Hebbagodi police said that the arrested woman was identified as Manjula, a local resident who functions as a social worker. The police said they had recovered Rs 65,000 in cash after the arrest of Manjula. The money was the amount extorted from the Bangladeshi woman, police said.
The Hebbagodi police said that the incident took place at the D-Mart supermarket on Monday when Rashida Begum was shopping there. Begum who came to Bangalore for the treatment of her husband’s heart disease was at the supermarket located near the Narayana Hrudayalaya hospital when she was stopped and harassed. While she was about to leave the supermarket security staff found that a pair of slippers had not been billed. The staff accused Begum of stealing the slippers and allegedly thrashed her.
At the same time, the accused Manjula arrived on the scene claiming to be a police inspector and took Begum away. Manjula allegedly took the Begum to the first floor of the supermarket, stripped her and took away around Rs 65,000 that she had kept for her husband’s treatment. Police said that Begum and her husband had sold their property to accumulate funds for treatment in Bangalore.
“We have booked a case against Manjula under section 384 (punishment for extortion) of the Indian Penal Code. We have arrested Manjula for claiming to be a police inspector and harassing Begum,” a police official from the Hebbagodi police station said.
-The Indian Express