Chemists claim men posing as cops extorting money,stage dharna

Alleging that a group of men posing as police employees had extorted money from them,the retail chemists association today staged a protest dharna in Kochar market over the issue. The matter came to light when Naveen Kumar,owner of Naveen medicos located in New Lajpat Nagar complained: “ Today at about noon,a white Sumo with blue light atop stood before my shop. Two persons in civilian clothes barged into my shop while one in police uniform kept sitting inside. The persons told me that they will register FIR against me,if I don’t pay them the requisite fee asked by them. They opened my cash box and took Rs 20,000. When I discussed this matter with my association members,I discovered that it has happened with few others as well,” he said.

The chemists say similar incidents had taken place over the past week. Bajaj medicos claim to have paid Rs 50,000 as ‘fee’ to this group while Rs 20,000 and Rs 15,000 were allegedly paid by RK and Atul medicos respectively. “We went to get our complaint heard by the city SP ,but we could not meet them,however a formal complaint has been lodged at Kochar Market police station,” said Naveen. He added: “ The persons also told me that they have enough intoxicants inside their vehicle which they said they will claim was procured from my shop. So they told me to follow their instructions or they will file a case against me”.

Amandeep Ahuja,president of Ludhiana retail chemist association said: “ We are followers of Anna Hazare and we will not let this happen. Police should investigate this matter and should punish the culprit. If someone in a vehicle with blue beacon is coming,he is a government servant only. And if it is some nexus,police should break it. In case of any raid at a chemist shop,police cannot come without drug inspector. So this is not a fair practice”.

Markets were closed for a while today in protest. When Newsline contacted aveen Kumar,Station House Officer of the area,he expressed ignorance about this incident and hence refused to comment on the episode.