Monday, July 12, 2010

Bombay HC calls Pune police lax

Bombay HC calls Pune police lax

By Bapu Deedwania

Posted On Monday, July 12, 2010 at 11:10:57 PM

The Bombay High Court on Monday came down heavily on the Pune police and its functioning while hearing a matter which related to the murder of a builder last year in 2009.
The HC has now sought statistics of all cases related to murder, rape and dacoity that happened in the last year, along with the numbers on what cases are pending, how many have been disposed and in how many cases charge sheets have been filed.
The case relates to the murder of one Nikhil Rane who is a builder and who was shot at in broad day light around 12.30 pm in the noon on November 23, 2009.
A case was registered by the Shivaji Nagar police station under section 307 of the Indian Penal code and along with relevant sections of Arms Act. A complaint was filed by the Sunil Rane, brother of the deceased.
Nikhil Rane was rushed to Sancheti hospital immediately after the incident and since was still alive that time. A case of attempted murder was registered but later after his death it was changed to section 302—murder under the Penal laws.
Nikhil Rane’s wife Ashwini moved the HC contending that their was no breakthrough in the case despite all these months. Hearing the petition the division bench of Justice B H Marlapalle and Justice Roshan S Dalvi rapped the Pune police saying that the police was very lax in its approach.
“It seems that Pune police is lethargic. They are interested in VIP security, bandobast duty and other entertainment duties. Mumbai is such a big city as compared to Pune yet the police here works better than them,” said Justice Marlapalle.
Having said that the judges called for the record of all undetected and detected cases. Public Prosecutor Mankunwar Deshmukh submitted that Commissioner of Police Dr Satyapal Singh has filed a detailed affidavit in the case saying that the investigation is still on in the case and the police had also made some arrests based on the details given by the wife of the deceased.
“Investigation of the spot was conducted. Spot panchnama was done, blood and other samples were collected and even a ballistic report was sought. The samples were sent to Forensic Laboratory at Kalina,” says Singh in the affidavit.
Singh even mentions that the police even went to take a statement of the deceased when he was admitted to the hospital. “But he was unconscious that time and could not speak,” states the affidavit.
Singh further adds that four people were arrested by the Crime branch after Ashwini Rane gave details about them alleging that they had given threats to her husband.
“The Anti-extortion cell even filed a charge sheet and sought police custody. Even the custodial interrogation did not reveal much,” says Singh.
The HC has now given the Pune police two weeks time to submit the report about the status of cases on rape, murder and dacoity.

 

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