Police turning blind eye to ’serial’ drunken revellers?

Cops detain and then let off five for raising ruckus at Himali society in Erandwane; residents say party included young people from Marathi television industry involved in similar incident two months ago

Police turning blind eye to 'serial' drunken revellers?

Camera shy: A police official escorts one of the suspects who was
detained for being involved in a clamorous party in the Himali society

Residents smell a rat
The alleged scene of histrionics was a flat belonging to one Samata Shah, relative of a prominent environment activist, said Saraswati Oza, a committee member of the society. She said he flat was rented out to students of Philippines nationality until a few days ago and the detained suspects had shifted a couple of days ago.

Oza said her son Parag could smell cigarette smoke emitting from the second floor. "He thought some labourers were smoking in the corridor as renovation work was being carried out in a flat downstairs. But when he went down, he saw a youth going inside the flat carrying a drunk woman on his shoulders. When Parag opened the door of the flat - which was filled with smoke- he saw other youths too lying in an inebriated state inside," Oza said. "The owner of the flat has not turned up for many days. She gets into agreements with tenants who then create problems for us. We believe that the mandatory procedure of informing the local police about the tenants was also not done by the owner." Speaking to mediapersons after filing a complaint, Parag Oza said he had also seen the prominent Marathi actress - who was let off by the cops last time - at the flat along with the other suspects.

Cops' version
The names of the detained youths are Amrutasingh Roopsingh, Amey Gosavi, Kaustubh Deshpandeu00a0-- all three involved in the previous incident toou00a0-- Alok Jadhav and Amruta Yadav. These youths are either students or job aspirants, said Police Inspector Vilas Narnavar from Kothrud police station.u00a0u00a0"Himali society residents Advocate Sharan Bhalchandra Pandey and Parag Oza have filed a complaint against the five youths. We have recorded their statement and will decide what sections can be applied and the possible action to be taken against the suspects," said Narnavar.

The police control room received a call at 10.29am about the alleged incident from Advocate Pandey. "When we reached the spot, the youths were inside their flat and nothing objectionable was found. Still we have recorded the Pandey's and Oza's statement verbatim. Further legal action will be initiated soon," Inspector Narnavar said refuting allegations of a possible cover-up. Assistant Police Inspector Sadiq Deshmukh said: "For now, we have released the suspects. But we are consulting with the legal department. We will take further action based on the legal opinion."

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