Social activists claims 'encounter' threat by 'policeman'

Social activist Shabnam Hashmi today approached the Delhi Police alleging that a man who claimed to be a police official has threatened to kill her in an "encounter".

The police said there was no personnel at Lajpat Nagar police station by the name stated by Hashmi but will inquire into the matter.

She has written to police commissioner Amulya Patnaik and said the man who called her identified himself as sub- inspector Sandeep Malik from the Lajpat Nagar police station.

Hashmi is co-founder of NGO Pehchan, which runs sewing classes. She said a woman, who learnt sewing at her centre, told her that her husband got a call from police last night asking him to appear at the Lajpat Nagar police station.
 

The man, autorikshaw driver Mohd Haseen (38), got scared because the "policeman" did not tell him the reason and just asked him to appear at the police station at the earliest, she said.

Hashmi, in her letter to the commissioner, said when she called on the number to know the reason why haseen was summoned, the "policeman" hurled abuses on her.

The social activist said she disconnected the call and downloaded a phone call recording application before calling back on the same number.

"In the initial conversation, this man was quite abusive. Since I did not have a call recorder on my phone, I disconnected the call and downloaded a call recorder," she said.

"I was directly threatened that I will be killed in an encounter and that there is the new law according to which whoever does not have an Aadhaar card and address proof should be culled out/surrounded and killed (sic)," she stated in her letter.

Delhi Police chief spokesperson Dependra Pathak said the matter will probed.

"From the onset, it does not appear that someone from the Delhi Police made this call. This complaint will be inquired into and strict action will be taken," said the officer.

Romil Baaniya, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast), said there is no one in the name of Sandeep Malik posted in the Lajpat Nagar police station.