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Kayangan Police chief replaced over extortion allegations
The West Nusa Tenggara Police replaced the Kayangan Police station chief for alleged extortion and intimidation that led to a civil servant taking his own death.
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suicide, depression (Shutterstock/tadamichi)
T
he West Nusa Tenggara Police have replaced the Kayangan police chief in North Lombok regency over extortion allegations against a civil servant, which led to him taking his own life.
First Insp. Dwi Maulana Kurnia Amin was removed from his position by the order of West Nusa Tenggara Police chief Insp. Gen. Hadi Gunawan on Friday, as reported by Kompas.
Dwi was removed after a mob damaged the Kayangan Police station on March 17. A villager, identified as Rizki Watoni, hung himself after allegedly being intimidated and extorted by a police officer at the Kayangan Police station for allegedly stealing a cell phone.
The theft was proven to be a mistake and both Rizki and the cell phone’s owner had agreed to a restorative justice approach in which Rizki was required to pay Rp 2 million (US$121 million) as a fine to the phone’s owner.
An officer at the Kayangan Police station, however, intimidated and tried to extort money from Rizki saying that the case would be handed over to the prosecutors’ office unless Rizki paid the officer Rp 15 million to drop the charges. The demand was then increased to Rp 90 million.
North Lombok Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Purwanta said the removal of Dwi and another officer alleged of extortion was intended to facilitate the National Police Internal Affairs (Propam) Division and NTB Police’s own Propam unit.
“An investigation is underway into First Insp. Dwi Maulana Kurnia Amin and his officer over rumors that are believed to have caused Rizki’s death and the attack on the Kayangan Police station,” Agus said, as quoted by Kompas.
