Thief flees from police custody, 3 suspended

Constable who fell asleep tried to cover up incident by bringing handcuff with same serial number, cops probing matter

KHARGHAR: Three months after a burglar managed to flee from their custody, the Kharghar police have suspended three of their officials for negligence.

According to the police, a burglar fled with the handcuffs from inside the police station, when one of the constables fell asleep. To cover up the incident, the said constable procured a pair of handcuffs with the same serial number.

However, his cover was busted after the watchman, who caught the burglar fleeing with his belongings and had reported the matter to the senior police officers, came to the police station to inquire about the burglar.

The incident took place in the first week of January, said senior inspector Pandharinath Patil of Kharghar police station. The police had initiated an internal inquiry into the incident and found the three constables guilty following which they have been suspended.

Sanjay Yenpure, deputy commissioner of police (zone II), said, “A watchman of a nearby building had caught a burglar who stole some of his belongings and alerted the police control room. A police team from Kharghar police station reached the spot within a few minutes and took the accused to the police station.”

“Constable SK Ghodke and havaldars MN Barsat and JJ Shivshinde were on duty that night. Ghodke took custody of the accused. However, instead of for- mally placing him under arrest and informing the duty officer, he kept him outside the lock-up room with his hands cuffed to the iron bars. He then fell asleep. The burglar managed to unlock the cuffs and escape with them in the night.”

While Ghodke got another pair of handcuffs to cover up the case, the watchman, who came to the police station the next morning to inquire about the accused, met Patil and narrated the entire episode. Patil then apprised his superiors of the same.

After investigating the incident, Barsat and Shivshinde were found guilty as they were on duty with Ghodke at the time and were superior to him in the constabulary. “We are now investigating how Ghodke managed to procure the new pair of handcuffs with the same serial number,” Yenpure said.

HT FILE Kharghar police station from where the robber managed to free himself and escape in January.