Three East Midnapore policemen, including an assistant sub-inspector, were suspended on Friday after allegedly being caught taking bribes from a truck driver on the Egra-Kharagpur highway during a surprise raid late on Thursday.

The inspection around midnight was led by the district’s assistant superintendent of police (rural) Vidit Raj Bhundesh. On the highway, two constables were spotted accepting wads of cash from a truck driver and handing them to the ASI seated inside the squad car. The ASI then counted the cash and put it inside the glovebox.

Sources said Rs 25,000 was recovered from the trio, who were summoned on Friday
by East Midnapore superintendent of police Sunil Kumar Yadav, who launched departmental investigations against the trio and suspended them from duty. The three have been sent to Tamluk police lines.

“The issue of cops extorting bribes from trucks and tourist vehicles near Digha is not new. Following a harsh reprimand from chief minister Mamata Banerjee last year, the district force started surprise inspections against errant officers on Egra-Kharagpur, Contai-Digha and Contai-Egra highways,” said an officer. “This highway in question is NH116B from where several complaints from tourists bound for Digha had come to us against cops taking bribes,” he added.

Sources said policemen in Digha had been pulled up in the recent past for falsely accusing tourist vehicle drivers of driving without licences and for asking truck drivers for documents deemed unnecessary by law.