Men in khaki earn extra money during COVID-19 time in Bhubaneswar; here is how

Bhubaneswar: The coronavirus pandemic is proving to be a boon for some policemen as they are earning big bucks during this time.

An incident that occured Sunday at Jharpada over-bridge under Laxmisagar police limits threw some light onto how they are able to earn money during these trying times.

The police started their routine checking at Jharpada over-bridge at around 1pm. At 4.30pm Tarsen Darua and Stitapragnya Mishra, both residents of Vani Vihar area, were going towards Laxmisagar on a bike. The cops at the check post stopped them and asked them to cough up fines.

As they did not carry money on them, one of them brought out his ATM card. All of a sudden, an ASI on duty started hurling abuses at them and asked them to pay in cash. It was when they pleaded that they indeed carried no money, the cop said they did not have POS machine and then gave them a Google pay account number asking them to make the payment online.

Only when Stitapragnya pay Rs 200 for both of them the ASI handed over a receipt.

They had hardly travelled a few meters, a question struck to their mind as to why the police took just Rs 100 from them when fine for not wearing helmet is Rs 1,000.

As they doubted the ASI’s act, they inspected the number the ASI had furnished them and were astonished to find that the account number was a personal one and it belonged to one Prabhat Aatty.

It did not take much time for them to understand that the money collected was going to the ASI’s personal account.

They immediately took to twitter to inform the higher officials of how some cops stoop so low as to collect money from people at a time when all are experiencing financial problems due to the pandemic.

When contacted, DCP Umashankar Dash said, “It is illegal to collect fine money in personal Google pay account. We will initiate a probe into the allegation and if the veracity is proved, action will be taken against those involved.”

PNN