One of the accused arriving at the courthouse.
KUCHING: Five policemen including an inspector were charged in the Sessions Court here for extortion today.
All of them pleaded not guilty to the charge framed under Section 388 of the Penal Code – a section that provides an imprisonment term up to 10 years, fine, whipping, or any two punishments upon conviction.
Inspector Joslin Savantil from the administration department of the state police headquarters and Corporal Mohd Mustaqim Che Ismail from Kuching district police station were accused of committing the offence at about 8.30pm on Aug 3 to a groceries shop owner in Matang here.
In another court room, Joslin was jointly charged with Lance Corporal Mohd Aslan Rasgan and Lance Corporal Mohd Noor Faiz Khalidiwas for allegedly committing a similar offence at a convenience store at Batu Lintang around 12.30pm on July 31.
Meanwhile, Mustaqim was also jointly charged with Corporal Hamizam Hamdi Chia for allegedly extorting a man, who allegedly organised illegal gambling and lotteries on Aug 8 this year at 6.30pm at Kampung Temaga Dayak, Sematan.
The cases were mentioned separately before judges Afidah Abdul Rahman, Timothy Finlayson Joel and Dayang Ellyn Narisa Abang Ahmad.
All the cases were fixed for management on Sept 25.
The accused persons were released on RM20,000 court bail in two sureties each, pending the disposal of the cases.
Initially there were six suspects detained in connection with the cases, but one of them was released on police bail upon the expiry of the remand order today.
He was not charged in court.
All the accused persons were represented by counsels Shankar Ram Asnani, except for Faiz, who was represented by lawyer Hani Iryani Boni.