As many as thirtyseven Mumbai policemen were suspended after being shown on national television accepting bribes to allow an illegal construction in suburban Kurla, an act, an embrassed Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh termed as "shameful".
Cracking the whip on corrupt policemen, Singh placed 37 personnel of the Nehru Nagar police station, including the office incharge Dhananjay Bagayatkar, under suspension following a sting operation carried out by an activist Kasim Khan.
The sting operation showed men in uniform accepting money, with some of them brazenly haggling with Khan over the amount to be paid.
"37 policemen have been suspended. Their action has shamed the department and Mumbai police. We will not tolerate such acts. Now, we are taking departmental action which will be followed by a legal action soon," Singh told PTI.
He, however, maintained that the errant policemen might have been "induced" to accept money.
"Going by the video footage and visuals it seems that policemen were induced to accept money," Singh said, adding the Anti-Corruption Bureau will probe the matter.
"Any police officer indulging in such acts will invite a strict action," Singh said, adding if more policemen were found to be involved, action would be initiated against them too.
Most suspended policemen are constables but some are also of the ranks of sub-inspectors and inspectors.
Meanwhile, Khan, whose "sting" operation created a storm, has claimed that an officer of the anti-corruption bureau, which has been asked to probe the episode, barged into his house at suburban Kurla in the wee hours today with the intention of "terrorising and intimidating" him.
"An ACP rank officer attached with Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) barged into my house at about 1.30 AM today and began inquiring. Am I an accused? I was very tense last night. It was an attempt to create terror in my mind," he said.
