Mumbai Crime: Constable booked for stealing bullets from Local Arms Division

Representation pic

The Worli police have booked a constable Mahendra Patil, attached with the Kurla police station, for stealing 50 bullets from another cop posted at the Local Arms Division in Worli, while the latter was fast asleep.

According to the police, on December 8, constables Vijay Hirlekar, Sanket Mali, Mahesh Dudhvade, Raju Pawar and Rahul Kadam were posted as guards at the Local Arms Division. Each of them had an SLR rifle and live bullets. The following morning around 8am, Mali found that 50 bullets were missing. After the Worli police station was informed about it, an investigation was launched.

Patil called up constable Arun Nikumbh, attached with the Dadar police station, and told him that he had found a couple of bullets and wanted to hand them over to the cops. Patil gave the bullets to Nikumbh on December 9, but did not record his statement then.

Later, when the Worli police initiated an inquiry in the case, Patil said in his statement that on December 8, while he was walking in front of the LA Division, he spotted two kids playing with a bag near a pan shop. The moment he called out to them, the children threw the bag and ran away. The bag contained the 50 bullets. He then went to the water pump house of the arms division and slept.

In the meantime, a top cop suspended Patil and the five constables, who were on duty at the arms division on the day of the incident. On realising that something was wrong about Patil's versions, a committee was set up by additional police commissioner of the Local Arms Division under the leadership of Pramod Koparde, senior PI, Local Arms Division, Naigaum. During interrogation of the constables, a completely new version of the story came up.

Police sources said that on the day of the incident, Patil met a couple of his friends near the water house and drank alcohol with them. While returning, he picked up the bullets, which Mali had kept on a chair next to him before dozing off.

"There was discrepancy between what Patil told Nikumbh and the statement he recorded at the Worli police station. It has also been revealed that Patil was drunk when he stole the bullets," said a police officer. Preliminary inquiry revealed that he had allegedly demanded money from Mali for returning the bullets.

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50
Total no. of bullets the constable stole

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