Srinagar, Nov 29: The harassment and loot allegedly by Punjab Police has triggered panic among the Kashmiri businessmen traveling to different parts of the country. 
 Over a month after highway robbers decamped with shawls worth lakhs of rupees from a prominent businessman, Syed Maroof Shah of Sanantnagar near Hoshiarpur, another businessman of the valley had to pay Rs 15000 as bribe in broad day light to uniformed men to save his life and goods.   
 Narrating his woeful tale Basharat Rashid of Nowgam told Greater Kashmir that on November 21 his car was intercepted by three uniformed men traveling in Qualis No. PB-08PQ-74180) at Jalandhar around 1:30 pm.  “The police party was headed by Assistant Sub Inspector and his two subordinates. I was traveling in my car along with my family, including my 4 year old kid. The policemen asked us to disembark from the vehicle and we followed their orders. They (policemen) started searching my vehicle  and asked me awkward questions as to why I was carrying blankets, clothes and shawls along,” he said.
 “They harassed us asking to show sales tax receipts. I told them (policemen) that sales tax is not applicable on shawls but they refused to listen. The police party asked me to follow them to the office of Sales Tax department nearby. I agreed to it,” Rashid said. 
 However, he said on way to the police vehicle stopped and the cops demanded Rs 25000 for setting them free.  “I feared for our lives so I paid them Rs 15000 and gave them walnuts. There was no nameplate on their uniform which I looked into so as to identify the trio. We were humiliated so much that I will never forget it. Only thing which struck my mind was Maroof Shah’s fate. These thugs and goons could have gone to any extent to loot us,” he said. 
 When contacted the Inspector General of Police S M Sahai said that they would take up the matter with their counterparts in Punjab Police to look into such incidents.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 IST