Mumbai: Addl CP catches Borivli cops copping out at nakabandi

A departmental inquiry has been ordered against five police officers from the Kasturba Marg police station, Borivli, for negligence of duty at a chain-snatching point. Police sources said the officers had organised a nakabandi and blocked the road with barricades on the Western Express Highway at Borivli (East), but they were not checking vehicles at the spot.

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The barricades are in place, but the police were resting elsewhere

The police department has also stopped the increments of the officers. Additional Commissioner of Police (North) Kishor Jadhav has ordered action against these five officers from Kasturba Marg police station, including inspectors Bapurao Pawar and Subhash Jadhav, and three constables.

Police officials said the officers had blocked the road with barricades and were taking rest in a police van, putting the lives of passers-by at risk. Similar instances of police callousness have surfaced in the past.

Last year, mid-day had reported how a 56-year-old businessman P K Arora had lost his life after his bike collided with a barricade that had been abandoned by cops following a nakabandi at Kandivli (W) (‘Mumbai man loses life due to police's callousness', August 3).

Addl CP Kishor Jadhav told mid-day, "Near the National Park on the highway, there is a chain-snatching point where five police officers were on nakabandi with the barricades. Instead of doing their duty, the officers were sitting at the back of their van and they blocked almost two lanes of the road.

Only one lane was opened for the public, which caused a traffic jam. When I reached the spot, the officers were acting like they were doing their duty, but I had received the pictures of the officers." Jadhav added, "Without doing any inquiry, the officers placed barricades on the road, which can endanger someone's life. Many incidents take place due to barricades.

We use barricades to stop a vehicle for inquiry, and not to harass anyone." Police officials said all five cops from the Kasturba Marg police station were resting in the police van. Many chain-snatching incidents have been reported from this area, and the police have stepped up vigilance to combat this menace.

But the nakabandis being organised have not helped; on Wednesday, another chain-snatching incident was reported in Borivli. Police sources said all five policemen have had their increments suspended after this incident. All the cops were also asked for an explanation on how many vehicles they had checked on Wednesday.

The time of checking of a vehicle had not been recorded. The cops had also not recorded the type of vehicle that they had checked. Police officials suspect numbers were recorded randomly, and the team had been taking rest while on duty.