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The Pune City police have suspended three constables for not being present at Perugate chowky (police outpost) during duty hours when a woman college student was attacked with a machete by a man on Tuesday. The assailant, Shantanu Jadhav, 21, was later brought to the chowky by the people.
Senior Pune City police officers told The Indian Express Thursday that the three constables had been suspended for dereliction of duty, pending an inquiry against them. The suspension order was issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandeep Singh Gill around the intervening midnight of Wednesday and Thursday, The Indian Express has learnt.
The incident took place at Sadashiv Peth, a few hundred metres from the Perugate police chowky of Vishrambag police station, and the act was caught on CCTV cameras. The 20-year-old woman, a student of an interior designing course at a Pune college, has sustained an injury on her head and hand.
The action from the police comes after it has come to light that three police constables on duty at the chowky, were not present at the place when the incident took place. When the local residents caught Jadhav and took him to the chowky, they found it closed and the personnel on duty took a few more minutes to return, said an officer.
Jadhav, a third-year BCom student at a Pune college, is a resident of Dongargaon village in the Mulshi area of Pune. According to a preliminary investigation, the man attacked the woman because she had ended their relationship due to his abusive behaviour. The woman was on the way to her college and was riding a pillion on the bike of a male friend. According to her, Jadhav had been following them, asking her to talk to him.
“We have taken up this very seriously. It is a clear dereliction of duty. Action has been initiated against the two constables,” Pune City Police Commissioner Retesh Kumar told The Indian Express.