A senior Bengaluru police officer has been arrested on charges of abetting the suicide of a businesswoman, after allegedly stripping and humiliating her, besides demanding a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to settle a case pertaining to a job scheme, officials said on Tuesday.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kanakalakshmi reportedly harassed 33-year-old S Jeeva, who was also a lawyer, at the office of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) on November 14. Jeeva died by suicide at her residence on November 22.
In a 11-page note, Jeeva, who ran a wood material shop in Bengaluru, accused Ms Kanakalakshmi of harassing her, and blamed the senior cop for her death.
Jeeva was one of the accused in the Karnataka Bhovi Development Corporation scam, involving misuse of funds meant for loans to the Bhovi community members under a job scheme. CID was given charge of the case. The Karnataka High Court had allowed CID to question Jeeva over video conferencing between November 14 and November 23. But the CID ordered her to appear in person.
On November 14, Jeeva presented herself at the CID office where she was harassed, stripped and interrogated on whether she was carrying cyanide. According to her suicide note, the police officer demanded a Rs 25 lakh bribe and refused to accept her submitted documents.
The harassment allegedly continued for the next few days.
Following Jeeva's death by suicide, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the DSP on the basis of a complaint by the businesswoman's sister S Sangeeta. The complaint said the cop also visited Jeeva at her shop and humiliated her in front of her employees.
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