Cop’s fake robbery claim: Forensic lab report says no poison in his body; GRP to close the case

Pawar had a recent medical history of jaundice due to alcohol. Police suspect that excessive consumption of alcohol may have caused multiple organ failure and that might have eventually caused a cardiac arrest leading to his death.

“On Friday, we received a chemical analysis report from the forensic lab, which ruled out the presence of any poisonous substance in Pawar’s body. So, it’s now confirmed beyond any doubt that the ‘poison injection’ story was false and it was not a case of homicide,” said Anil Kadam, senior inspector of Dadar GRP.

“We have sent a copy of the report to the doctors of Thane Civil Hospital for their reference. Based on this report, they will send us the final post-mortem report in a few days. After this, we will file the closure report B-Summary (false FIR) before the court,” Kadam added.

Attached to Mumbai Police’s Local Arms Division-3, Pawar was admitted to the Civil Hospital in Thane on April 29. At the hospital, he told police in Kopri that on April 27, when he was going to his workplace in Byculla from his home, his phone was robbed between Matunga and Sion stations by some gang members. The thieves later also injected some poisonous substances into his body, he claimed.

Pawar had claimed that after lying unconscious for hours alongside the railway track, he somehow boarded a train from Matunga station and returned home. He was admitted to the civil hospital after his health deteriorated. On May 1, he died at the hospital during treatment.

On May 1, when Dadar GRP got the handover of the case from Kopri police for further investigation, they checked the CCTV footage of various railway stations based on Pawar’s mobile phone location and found that he had cooked up the entire robbery story.

The police probe revealed that on the night of April 27, he went to a bar in Dadar (east), and after having a drink, he walked over a 2-kilometre stretch from Dadar to Parel railway station and slept there overnight. The next morning, he went to Matunga, sold his finger ring, had drinks at a bar, and then went to Thane. At Thane, he again had drinks with his nephew Nilesh and then went back home. Overnight, he vomited multiple times, and the next day he got admitted to the hospital.

Police have revealed that Pawar was an alcoholic and that he used to drink daily. Police have also obtained his bank transaction details for the past year, which show a high number of payment transactions at wine shops and bars.

”Since he did not go to work in order to avoid any disciplinary departmental action, he might have cooked up the robbery story,” said another police officer.

Hailing from a poor family, Pawar’s father and brother work as labourers. His wife is having psychiatric issues and has been undergoing treatment for the same.

Under GRP Commissioner Ravindra Shisve’s guidance, DCP (CR) Manoj Patil supervised the entire investigation, headed by ACP Sunil Gaonkar and Dadar GRP senior inspector Anil Kadam.