Mumbai: The Railway Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested three former Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel who had been dismissed from service for allegedly threatening, assaulting, and extorting money from a Rajasthan-based jeweller in the presence of his minor daughter at Mumbai Central Terminus in August 2025.
The arrests follow a Supreme Court order that cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to them by the Bombay High Court last September. In their May 27 order, Justices Sanjay Kumar and K. Vinod Chandran observed: "When law enforcers turn extortionists, the citizen looks askance and is left in a dilemma. To confront is to invite instant retaliation and the option is only to succumb meekly to the uniformed authority, even when there is patent abuse."
The accused are former Assistant Sub-Inspector Lalit Jagtap and former constables Rahul Bhosle and Anil Rathod. They were dismissed from service earlier this year following a departmental inquiry.
Details of the Incident
The incident occurred on August 10, 2025, when the jeweller and his eight-year-old daughter arrived at Mumbai Central Terminus to board the Duronto Express to return to Rajasthan after visiting the city for Raksha Bandhan. The jeweller's brother-in-law was also accompanying them.
Around 10:30 PM, as the group reached platform number 5, a uniformed man without a name tag stopped them for a baggage check. The GRP officer found a 14-gram gold biscuit wrapped in paper and Rs 31,000 in cash in their luggage. The jeweller explained that he had attended a jewellery exhibition in Mumbai and visited his sister, but the officer was not satisfied. He summoned another uniformed colleague, also without a name tag.
The officers took the jeweller, his daughter, and brother-in-law outside the terminus through an alley to a room where their "senior" was seated. There, they allegedly hurled abuses, slapped the jeweller, and threatened to lock him up overnight. They allegedly threatened to produce the gold biscuit before a magistrate and forced the jeweller to arrange for a copy of his Aadhaar card over the phone. They also forced him to sign several blank sheets of paper.
Five minutes before the train's departure at 10:55 PM, the GRP officers returned the gold but allegedly kept the cash. When the jeweller pleaded, they returned only Rs 1,900.
Legal Proceedings
The jeweller registered a police complaint in Rajasthan on August 17, 2025. The case was later transferred to the Mumbai Central GRP and then to the Railway Crime Branch. On August 26, 2025, a Mumbai sessions court rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of the three accused. They subsequently moved the Bombay High Court, which granted them relief in September 2025.
The state challenged the High Court order. On May 27, the Supreme Court set aside the "cryptic" High Court order and underscored that "normal presumptions applicable to an accused layperson would not apply" when dealing with a police officer alleged to have abused his office.
Impact on Department
Sources in the GRP stated that the arrests of the three accused would send a strong message within the department that corruption will not be tolerated.
