Taking ‘hafta’ in the form of free food, a 50-year-old woman was arrested for extorting ‘bondas’ and ‘bhajjis’ from a local vendor.
Extorting ‘bondas’ and ‘bhajjis’
In a bizarre incident, a 50-year-old woman was arrested for extorting ‘bondas’ and ‘bhajjis’ from a local vendor in Byatarayanapura in North-East Bengaluru. She had pretended to be a police officer. Reported Deccan Herald.
The vendor, Sahaik Salam, who sold these snacks (‘bondas’ and ‘bhajjis’) in a push-cart near Ayyappa temple in Byatarayanapura was fed up with the ‘hafta’ (extortion) system. The vendor said that the woman came to his shop once or twice a week for the last one month in plain clothes, presented herself as a woman police officer from Kodigehalli police station, and took the food for free.
She also threatened the vendor that she would report his cart as illegal and make him shut the shop if he failed to give her the food each time she visited. Scared of the warning, the 26-year-old gave her the snacks/ fritters every time over the past month.
Salam lost his cool when she went to him on the evening of January 5, ate egg Bonda on the spot, and made him parcel other bonds worth Rs 100. He asked her to pay up. The woman, angry at his arrogance to ask her for money, threatened to immediately get his cart removed.
The police complaint
After having seen enough, Salam called 112 and informed the police about the harassment. The woman fled from the scene as soon as he dialed the cops. He, however, noted down her vehicle registration number. The Hoysala patrolling staff reached the spot and gathered details from Salam and asked him to visit Kodigehalli police station and file a complaint.
The police turned into action and managed to catch the woman named Leelavathi with the help of the registration number of the vehicle. The police learned that her husband is an engineer, her elder daughter is a doctor and her son is an engineering student. The family is financially well but Leelavathi still has misused the name of the police department to extort eateries. Not just the Bondas, she also used to extort grocery vendors for fruits, vegetables, and daily provisions.
During police interrogation, Leelavathi confessed to extorting money from vendors. She apologized to the police for misusing the department’s name. She was arrested and has been granted bail in court, a senior police officer told Deccan Herald.
Leelavathi’s extortion case has been ongoing for a year. Several vendors had earlier informed Kodigehalli police about some woman police officer extorting food from them but, no one had filed an official complaint.
After Leelavathi was arrested, five vendors-including a bakery owner, a biriyani hotel owner, and others – officially filed complaints against her.
