Six RPF cops suspended for extortion

In what seems like a clear message for the Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff indulging in extorting money from passengers lining up to board the unreserved compartments of long distance trains, six constables from CST main line station have been suspended on Wednesday for not managing the queues as per the Railway's directives.

Unfortunately for the unsuspecting RPF staff involved, it was Sachin Bhalode, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF, Central Railway (CR) who during one of his rounds at CST witnessed the irregularities. "There is a proper protocol laid down that specifies passengers have to be allotted seats in the unreserved coaches on first-come-first-serve basis and a proper queue has to be formed. I saw that there was some irregularities by the staff posted and I confirmed it from the CCTV camera footage," he said.

Though there was no confirmation on the exact charges, sources in RPF claimed that there seem to be clear CCTV evidence of these constables collecting money for allowing passengers to jump the queue and get ahead for a confirmed seat. "The enquiry is being conducted and chances are that even Senior Police Inspector Ajay Yadav, of CST mainline will be called for giving an explanation as the matter has been taken up extremely seriously by the top officials," said a RPF staff. Constables used to extort anywhere between Rs 200 to 500 depending on the train and rush season.