Mumbai Crime: Head constable at Arthur road jail held for passing gangster's chits to aide

Photo for representational purpose

A head constable of Central Prison at Arthur Road has been arrested for passing a letter from gangster Harish Mandvikar to his henchman, instructing him to threaten a prime witness in a 2015 drugs case. The accused, head constable Arjun Ghodke, was sent to ATS custody till December 28.

Mandvikar has been accused of sending chits from jail to Sachin Palwekar who in turn asked Sujit Padwakar to threaten a witness in the drugs case to give testimony in favour of Sajid Electricwala, the prime accused in the case. Palwekar and Padwakar have been arrested.

Investigation revealed that constable Ghodke, who was deployed at the high security cell at Arthur Road Central Prison, personally passed the hand-written chit carrying orders of Mandvikar from inside the jail to his aide. Ghodke was frequently passing on Mandvikar's chits to his aide for the past few months. On December 25, the Charkop Unit of ATS arrested the constable on the basis of strong evidence against him.

Ghodke was remanded t ATS custody till December 28. The Charkop Unit of ATS is probing further role of the arrested jail official in the crime.

In June 2015, ATS had recovered 155 kg of Mephedrone by raiding an illegal drug manufacturing unit in Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri which was owned by Electricwala. He was arrested with six other accused. Electricwala is lodged inside Arthur Road Central Prison since 2015. In March 2020, Mandvikar was sent to the Arthur Road Jail in an MCOCA case and he was lodged in a high security cell adjacent to that of Electricwala. While in the prison, Electricwala befriended Mandvikar and hatched a conspiracy to threaten a prime witness in the case whose court deposition was in progress.