Two policemen who stopped and tried to search newspaper publisher Atul Gupta’s vehicle in 2010 have been discharged for breaching police discipline rules

“They have been discharged and they have got 10 days to lodge an appeal,” said Sandton police spokeswoman Captain Kym Cloete.

The two stopped Gupta’s BMW X5 outside Johannesburg in September 2010 and searched Gupta’s bodyguard and driver.

Gupta refused to let them search his car and he was arrested.

Authorities decided not to prosecute Gupta.

Cloete did not know the finer details of the police internal investigation, and a provincial police spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

However, she said the public was always entitled to lodge a complaint against the police if they were not satisfied with their conduct so that a disciplinary investigation could take place.

The two, named in news reports as Constable Aubrey Mlotshwa and a colleague, identified only as Constable Mangema, were not on active duty currently, Cloete said.

Gupta, a publisher of The New Age newspaper, was on his way home to Saxonwold when the incident occurred.

Comment from Gupta was not immediately available.