3 sacked Mumbai railway policemen arrested after pre-arrest bail cancelled by Supreme Court

Mumbai: Railway crime branch on Wednesday arrested three sacked Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel 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 come after Supreme Court cancelled their anticipatory bail granted by Bombay high court last September. "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," SC judges Sanjay Kumar and K Vinod Chandran had observed in their May 27 order.Assistant sub-inspector Lalit Jagtap, and constables Rahul Bhosle and Anil Rathod were dismissed from service earlier this year following a departmental inquiry.The incident had occurred on August 10, 2025, when the jeweller and his eight-year-old daughter, who were visiting Mumbai for Raksha Bandhan, reached Mumbai Central Terminus to board Duronto Express to return home to Rajasthan. The jeweller's brother-in-law accompanied them.Around 10.30pm, the group reached platform number 5, when a uniformed man stopped them for baggage check. The GRP cop, who wasn't wearing a name tag, found a 14gm gold biscuit wrapped in paper and Rs 31,000 cash in the luggage. The jeweller explained that he had attended a jewellery exhibition in Mumbai, besides visiting his sister. But the cop was not satisfied and summoned another uniformed colleague, who was also not wearing his name tag. They took the jeweller, his daughter, and brother-in-law outside the terminus through an alley to a room where their "senior" was seated. They allegedly hurled abuses and slapped the jeweller, and threatened to lock him up overnight. The cops allegedly threatened to produce the gold biscuit before a magistrate and asked the jeweller to arrange for a copy of his Aadhaar card over phone. They also allegedly forced him to sign a few blank sheets of paper.Five minutes before the train was to depart, at 10.55pm, the GRP cops returned his gold, but allegedly kept the cash. When he pleaded, they returned Rs 1,900. The jeweller registered a police complaint in Rajasthan on Aug 17, 2025. It was later transferred to Mumbai Central GRP and then to Railway crime branch.On August 26, 2025, a Mumbai sessions court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of the three accused. They then moved the HC, which granted them relief in September 2025.The state challenged the HC order. On May 27, the Supreme Court set aside the "cryptic" HC order and underscored that "normal presumptions applicable to an accused layperson would not apply" while dealing with a police officer who is alleged to have abused his office.Sources in GRP said the arrests of the three accused will send a strong message in the department that corruption will not be tolerated.