Investigation into hotel’s complaint confirms CID SP’s role; report reaches DGPolice officers and corruption have become almost synonymous in Bengaluru. On March 3, a Superintendent of Police with the Criminal Investigation Department allegedly “raided” and extorted Rs 2 lakh from the four-star Orchid Ramada (previously known as Royal Orchid Harsha) on the pretext of a prostitution racket being run there.The SP, ML Madhura Veena, along with 11 policemen, landed up at the hotel around 2.30 pm on the said day. Although the officer did not have a search warrant, she and two cops went straight to room number 306 – which had been booked by two girls through an online hotel booking site.When they did not find any evidence of prostitution, the policemen allegedly demanded that the hotel cough up Rs 5 lakh else a case will be lodged against the hotel. The negotiations then went on till 5.30 pm with the hotel offering a maximum of Rs 25,000 and the policemen allegedly demanding more since the raiding party was led by an “SP-level officer”.The hotel, in its complaint to CID DGP Kishore Chandra, alleged that despite showing the lady SP relevant documents to prove that the two ladies were innocent guests and that their establishment was a family hotel, Veena barged into the room where the girls were staying.The SP threatened to book cases on the hotel and allegedly asked the staff to close the issue by paying up a hefty amount.Veena left the hotel at about 5.45 pm with a posse of eight policemen, leaving behind two DySP-rank officers. Just before leaving, she informed her boss, CID DIG Sonia Narang, about the raid. Narang apparently asked the officer to leave the hotel immediately as there was no evidence of a prostitution racket. The two Dy SPs then struck a deal with the hotel in room number 308 at 8.25 pm. The final settlement amount was Rs 2 lakh. In the complaint, the hotel alleged that one of the officers claimed to be working for the CBI.After CID DG Kishore Chandra took cognisance of the complaint, Narang was asked to conduct an enquiry. Narang studied the CCTV footage from 2.30 pm to 8.25 pm on March 3 which proved that the involvement of the officer and policemen in the extortion racket; she also studied documents indicating withdrawal of Rs 2 lakh from particular bank accounts. Even the diary entry – which every policeman has to maintain about any case or incident that is brought to their notice – was found to be incorrect.Narang has submitted her report to Kishore Chandra, prima facie confirming the hotel’s allegations.DIG Kishore Chandra told Bangalore Mirror: “A complaint came from the hotel management alleging against a SP and her team. The matter was investigated by a senior officer and she submitted the report, including all the statements, CCTV footage and many more components. I have passed this report to DG&IG 9Om Prakash) for further action.”When Bangalore Mirror contacted Veena, the officer said that she was not authorised to speak to the media but knew about the report.Ramada Hotel management said that it had filed a complaint but refused to divulge anything further.Interestingly, while conducting the preliminary probe, Narang found this wasn’t the first time that Veena and her team had allegedly extorted money from a hotel. Last year, they had allegedly extorted Rs 4 lakh in a similar manner from Hotel Royal Orchid in Manipal Centre.