Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A train robbery, a chase, and death by poisoning. The Government Railway Police (GRP) had their work cut out for them when a Mumbai police constable died in a hospital last year, saying that he had been poisoned by a gang while pursuing a man who stole his mobile phone while he was travelling by train on his way to work. What began as a routine investigation, however, soon turned into a wild chase that upended the case.
In May 2024, Vishal Pawar, a 30-year-old constable posted with the Local Arms Division, was admitted to a city hospital after he fell ill. In his statement, Pawar told the police that on April 27, 2024, he was on his way to report for duty and was on board a local train in civilian clothes. He said that he was standing near the train’s door and speaking on his phone. When the train was between Matunga and Sion stations in central Mumbai at around 9.30 pm, it slowed down, he said.
A person standing near the tracks hit his hand with force, Pawar said, adding that due to the impact, his phone fell and was picked up by the thief, who began running. Pawar told the police that since the train was slow, he decided to alight and chase the thief.
Pawar said that he had gone a short distance when he was surrounded by a gang of robbers and thieves, who he said were drug addicts, known to squat close to some railway tracks in the city. Pawar said that a scuffle ensued, and one of the men injected him with a substance, while another poured a red-coloured liquid into his mouth.
Pawar said that he lost consciousness after that and remained on the tracks before he woke up a few hours later and returned home in Thane on a local train.
The local police filed a complaint of robbery while Pawar was at the hospital, and the probe was transferred to the Dadar GRP, who began looking for the gang.
To identify the men and their whereabouts, the police began looking at CCTV camera footage across multiple railway stations. At Matunga station, where the alleged incident was reported by Pawar, the police came across footage which showed that Pawar was seen boarding a local train towards his home in Thane only around 11 am the next day, and not as he had claimed.
Suspecting something amiss, the police then began to scour CCTV footage to track Pawar’s movements on the day.
The CCTV footage showed that on April 27, 2024, when Pawar said that he was on the train to report to duty at Byculla, he had alighted at Dadar railway station instead. The police tracked his movement on CCTV footage outside the station and found that he had visited a bar in Dadar and subsequently walked to Parel railway station, where he was seen sleeping under a staircase, the GRP claimed.
He was then seen to have taken a train to Matunga around 8.30 am, walked out of the station and returned around 11 am, before taking a train for his home in Thane. The police recorded statements of the attendants at the Dadar bar. Pawar was also found to have alighted at Thane station and again visited a bar with a relative, before returning home.
The police said that Pawar was allegedly addicted to alcohol and had medical complications because of it, including jaundice. He had been advised not to consume alcohol. The police claimed that since he had not reported to duty that day, he concocted the story of an attack, which sent the authorities on a wild goose chase to find the culprits.
The police also relied on medical and forensic reports to determine that Pawar’s death was caused due to medical complications and not a poisonous substance injected by robbers.
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
