Cop8217;s alleged high-handedness leads man to end life

Earlier, Chamru and his brother-in-law Yashwant Naththu Punde, were summoned at the Seminary Hills police chowky in connection with a theft case and were allegedly beaten by an assistant sub-inspector ASI who demanded Rs 500 for not implicating them in the case. Chamru8217;s wife has stated this in her plaint to the police.

In a swift reaction, an offence of abetment to suicide under Section 306 IPC was registered against the ASI, Marotrao Dhande, pending further action on the basis of a report to be filed by the Sadar police in-charge, Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone II R N Dahate told The Indian Express on Tuesday night.

For more than three hours following the incident, irate residents refused to let the body be removed from the site for a postmortem, demanding immediate suspension of the ASI.

It took a great deal of persuasion by senior police officials, who had rushed to the site, to resolve the situation and the body was removed to the Mayo Hospital in the evening.

The matter stemmed from the theft of some paan masala pouches and other articles from a paan kiosk, situated opposite Chamru8217;s shop, over a month ago.

The kiosk owner, Suresh Sharma, had then told the police that he suspected it to be the handiwork of Chamru and Yashwant, who runs a tea stall adjacent to Chamru8217;s shop.

Both, Chamru and Yashwant, were summoned at the Seminary Hills police chowky around 10 am on Tuesday by ASI Marotrao Dhande who was probing the matter. Later, they were taken the Sadar police station where the ASI allegedly gave them a sound thrashing and insisted that he would put them behind bars unless they paid him Rs 500. The two were then let off.

Disturbed by the events, Chamru dropped Yashwant at the latter8217;s residence in Gautam Nagar and returned home for a while in the afternoon. He had a talk with his wife and expressed that he had no desire to live anymore. He later started out to proceed to an unknown place on his bicycle. Sensing his despair, Chamru8217;s wife followed him on foot and made a vain bid to persuade him against leaving home.

However, Chamru headed straight for the well at nearby Thakre Layout and took the plunge. His wife raised an alarm but by the time some people from the vicinity could reach for her help, it was too late.

Later, the body was recovered by fire brigade personnel and kept near the well. Senior police officials including Assistant Commissioner of Police Sadar Sunil Phulari and Sadar police in-charge inspector Vinod Phatak rushed to the site even as a mob gathered there to demand action against the ASI. Later, Dahate too visited the site.