Mumbai CP Sanjay Pandey retorts to Ranas’ allegations of ill-treatment with video

A grab from the video posted by Commissioner of Police Sanjay Pandey on Twitter that shows the Ranas having tea at Khar police station

Mumbai police chief Sanjay Pandey has rubbished the allegations of ill-treatment by independent member of parliament Navneet Kaur and her husband, MLA Ravi Rana, while in custody, by putting up a video on Twitter, of the duo having tea and water in Khar police station. Kaur has written to the Lok Sabha speaker claiming she was ill treated because she belongs to a scheduled caste. While sharing the video, Pandey wrote on his Twitter account, "Do we say anything more."

The move came after the home ministry sought a factual report from the state government following the instructions from the Lok Sabha Privilege and Ethics Committee.

After Pandey shared the video from Khar police station, the Ranas' lawyer Rizwan Merchant issued an video statement on behalf his clients, saying the police did offer tea and water at Khar police station, but their allegations of ill-treatment were about Santacruz police, where they were kept in lockup before being produced in Bandra court on Sunday.

"I urge the Mumbai police commissioner to retrieve the CCTV footage of Santacruz police station lockup not Khar police. Our complaint is of ill treatment is at Santacruz police where she was refused access to water and a washroom. The city police chief must put those videos without any editing in the public domain," Merchant said

After Merchant's allegation of ill treatment at Santacruz police station, the police checked CCTV of Santacruz lockup and told mid-day that there was no ill treatment. "We have CCTV footage of Santacruz lock up as well. She was treated well there and provided water whenever she asked for. She was also allowed to use the officer's room to use the toilet, the allegations of ill treatment are baseless," a senior officer of the Mumbai police told mid-day.

On Monday, Navneet Rana had written a letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla alleging torture following her arrest over her threats to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's residence Matoshree.

What Kaur claims

Kaur in her letter to Lok Sabha speaker had said that she was put in the lock up at Khar police station and though she made several demands for drinking water through the night, it was not provided to her. She wrote, "To my shock and disbelief, the police staff told me that I belong to a scheduled caste and hence they will not give me water in the same glass. I was told "Neechi Zaat ke longon ko paani nahi dete." I was directly abused on the basis of my caste and it is only for this reason that no drinking water was provided."

She claimed when she wanted to use the bathroom at night, the police staff again told her, "we don't let people from ‘neechi zaat - scheduled castes' use our bathrooms."

The sessions court has asked Mumbai police to file their reply on the bail application filed by the Ranas and has granted time till Friday for the same.