29 May,2015 06:59 AM IST | | Vinay Dalvi
After raid at an illegal dance bar revealed how Thane policemen worked hand in glove with culprits, 49 cops from the Shil-Dayghar police station, including two officers, were transferred and now await an inquiry
It was during a raid at an illegal dance bar in the Shil Phata area last month that the Thane Police discovered how some of its own men were allegedly working hand in glove with the culprits.
Thane Joint Commissioner of Police V V Lakshmi Narayana ordered the transfer of 49 cops from the Shil-Dayghar police station for allegedly turning a blind eye to the illegal operations of a dance bar in their jurisdiction. File pic
Taking decisive action yesterday, Thane Joint Commissioner of Police (CP) V V Lakshmi Narayana ordered the transfer of 49 policemen including two officers from the Shil-Dayghar police station, and ordered an inquiry into their roles in the racket.
Black book
On April 15, the special branch of Thane Police had carried out a raid at Utsav Bar, and incredibly, the force found a diary at the premises that not only had the names of all the crooked cops, but also contained details of how much money they had taken to turn a blind eye to the illegal operations at the bar.
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"We had found a diary in the bar that mentioned that Senior Police Inspector R S Pawar of Shil-Dayghar police station took Rs 30,000 monthly, Inspector Uday Jadhav took Rs 10,000, police naiks took Rs 5,000 each, hawaldars took Rs 3,000 and other constables took Rs 1,000 per month," said a cop, on condition of anonymity.
After the diary was found, the special branch showed the diary to Joint CP Lakshmi Narayana, who in the past has investigated high-profile cases like the Satyam scandal, the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy disproportionate assets case and the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
The Joint CP immediately ordered the special branch to investigate the diary and its contents, all of which was found to be true. "We have transferred a senior inspector, an inspector and 47 constables. Wewill investigate into the matter now and, presently, we have appointed K D Katkar as the senior police inspector at the police station," said Joint CP Lakshmi Narayana.
Tarnished reputation
The Shil-Dayghar police station has mostly bars and, more recently, a lot of construction activity in its jurisdiction. There have been past instances of disgraced cops from the station who supported illegal activity on both fronts.
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Since 2013, this police station has seen three other senior cops transferred for allowing an illegal dance bar to run Senior Police Inspector Ashok Jagtap, Assistant Police Inspector A P Banjale and Police Naik T D Borse. In April 2013, in a separate case of illegal construction, Senior Inspector K P Naik and a constable were suspended over a building collapse on April 4, 2013, that killed 74 people.
They had allegedly taken bribes to allow the illegal construction. Apart from its sullied reputation, the Shil-Dayghar police station now faces a more immediate problem: with the transfer of 49 cops nearly half of its full strength of 100 the station is severely short staffed and the authorities will have to begin filling these vacancies soon.
