Three Uttar Pradesh police officers are in hot water after allegedly abducting a farmer and demanding Rs 2 lakh ransom in Bareilly, officials revealed.

The Fatehganj police post in-charge, Sub-Inspector Balveer Singh, and constables Mohit Chaudhary and Himanshu were booked and suspended following the brazen crime, with a manhunt now underway.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anurag Arya didn’t mince words: “An FIR’s been filed for kidnapping, threats, and extortion. They’re suspended, and departmental action’s rolling.”

The drama kicked off Thursday night when the trio stormed farmer Balveer’s home in Bhitora village under Fatehganj West jurisdiction. After a sham search, they snatched him, whisking him to a private house in the rubber factory colony. There, they accused the clean-record farmer of smack smuggling, demanding Rs 2 lakh from his family to let him go.

Balveer’s kin raised the alarm, alerting Bareilly Range IG Dr. Rakesh Singh and SSP Arya. CO Highway Nilesh Mishra raced to the scene, but the rogue cops had already bolted.

Mishra freed Balveer and filed a damning report, triggering the SSP’s swift crackdown. The absconding trio now faces police teams hot on their trail, plus a departmental probe to unravel how lawmen turned lawbreakers. For Bareilly, it’s a stark wake-up call—trust in the badge just took a hit.