Maharashtra: Police team on drug peddlers' trail assaulted by mob; woman cop hospitalised, 3 held

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A group of around 20 persons allegedly attacked a police team when it was in a locality at Bhayander area in Thane district of Maharashtra to nab drug peddlers, an official said on Thursday, reported the PTI.

The incident occurred on Tuesday night in Dhavgi locality, following which the police arrested three persons, he said.

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A woman constable was hospitalised after being injured in the attack, as per the PTI.

"A group of 15 to 20 people attacked a police party of the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar police commissionerate when it went to their locality around 9 pm to nab drug peddlers based on a tip-off," an official of the Uttan Sagari police station said, according to the PTI.

The police team comprised five persons, including a woman constable who was beaten up with a bamboo by the miscreants. She has been admitted to a hospital and is currently undergoing treatment, he said, adding that other members of the team also suffered injuries in the attack.

The police have registered a case under Indian Penal Code sections 353 (assault or use of criminal force obstructing a public servant from discharging duty), 354 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) and others.

The police later arrested three men in connection with the incident. They were identified as Abbas Ali Mirza (38), Ankur Bharti (28) and Raju Gautam (19) and a search is on for the other accused, the police official said.

Meanwhile, in an another incident, the police have arrested a 28-year-old man after seizing 500 gm of mephedrone, a banned drug, valued around Rs 50 lakh from his possession in Navi Mumbai township of Maharashtra, an official said on Thursday, as per the PTI.

Acting on intelligence inputs, the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of Navi Mumbai police caught the accused, identified as Arshad Karar Khan, near a bridge on Kalamboli-Shilphata road in Taloja on Wednesday evening, he said.

The police found 500 gm of MD (mephedrone) drug in the possession of the accused, who belongs to Khoni village in Dombivli area of Thane district, the official from Taloja police station said.

A case was registered against the accused under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the police said, adding that efforts were on to ascertain the source of the seized contraband and to whom it was to be sold.

(with PTI inputs)