Probe into police officer’s suicide plan

On February 8, Sabde first wrote down his grievances in the official diary before leaving for the office, where he wanted to carry out his suicide plan. However, Police Commissioner R H Mendonca was informed of Sabde’s decision by one of Sabde’s colleagues and he managed to stop him.

Mendonca disclosed that Additional Police Commissioner (Crime) Y C Pawar had been asked to inquire into the incident. Mendonca himself will look into Pawar’s allegationsof harassment and humiliation by senior officers.

The Police Commissioner admitted that the issue was a sensitive one as Sabde was mentally disturbed. “So I want to wait till the enquiry is complete, before taking any action,” he said.

Sabde’s problems began when he was transferred to Crime Branch Control from Bomb Disposal Squad on January 9 against the wishes of Yadav and Joint police commissioner (Crime) R S Sharma. Sabde reportedly tried to meet Sharma one day but couldn’t, in spite of waiting for three hours. The next day, when he did manage to meet the officer, he was allegedly insulted in the office. An aggrieved Sabde went to the Economic Offences Wing the very next day and submitted his resignation. However, he was persuaded to withdraw it.

His problems reportedly did not end there. On February 5, Sabde raided a petrol pump at Cumballa Hill and arrested three persons. Yadav reportedly felt that the job was not done properly and asked Sabde to come to his office on Sunday to discuss thematter. As Sunday was his weekly off, Sabde told Yadav that he could not make it. Yadav then allegedly threatened to suspend him from service and even arrest him.

Sabde’s case acquires significance in the light of last year’s incident when Inspector Mahadev Jadhav committed suicide at Kalachowki police station, allegedly due to harassment by a senior police officer.