Pune: The recent case of custodial death in Sangli has raised serious concerns among senior cops about the trending pattern of junior rank police personnel hiding information related to in-disciplinary acts of their colleagues.
On November 6, Aniket Kothale, a youth arrested on charges of robbery, was allegedly killed by cops of Sangli city police. A police case was registered against Police Sub-Inspector Yuvraj Kamte, Head Constables Anil Lad, Arun Tone, constables Suraj Mulla, Rahul Shingte and police informer Zakir Pattewala, who is a civilian. All five policemen have been dismissed. A source privy to the investigation informed that all the policemen present at the time of the ghastly incident hid the information from the DSP.
The source said, “On the day of the incident, DSP Dipali Kale visited the police station twice. During her first visit, Kothale and another suspect, Bhandare, were there in the lock-up, but later when she visited at night, both were missing. Kale, who enquired repeatedly about the two suspects, was not been given any information about the incident.”
Unity among ranks
“There were seven policemen present in the Sangli city police station but none of them informed anything about the custodial death of Kothale to DSP Kale. Such kind of unity to hide the crime of their subordinates has raised serious concern among senior officials,” added the source.
A CID official said, “Although the DSP has been served show cause notice, she is the whistleblower in the case. When she reached the police station and didn’t find the two arrested persons in lock-up, she enquired about it with each and every policeman present there. Instead of telling her about the incident, they were misguiding her.”
“All of them blankly told her that they didn’t know where the accused have gone. Later when she got furious with them, she was informed that the accused have run away from the lock-up and Kamte had gone after them to arrest them,” the CID official said.
The official informed that when Kale called up Kamte, he told her the same story. He said, “Kale asked him to report to her immediately and questioned why an entry was not made in the police register about the escape.”
According to information available with Sakal Times, Kamte came to the police station at 3 am
(intervening night of November 6 and 7).
Mum’s the word
Another source said, “Kale was there in the police station till early morning but none of the police officials informed her. Even till 11.30 am, nobody informed the DSP. She even told some of the crowd gathered outside the police station that the accused have ran away and will be produced soon. In the afternoon, Bhandare alone was brought to the station and during interrogation conducted by the DSP and SP of Sangli, Bhandare revealed that Kothale has been murdered by Kamte and other cops, and his body was set on fire at Amboli ghat.”
“PSI SS Chavan was the officiating in-charge of the police station on the day of incident. Despite being the station in-charge at that time, he didn’t say a word about the ghastly incident,” added the source.
Unity in the wrong place
A high ranking CID official, on condition of anonymity, said, “Unity among junior rank to hide the crime of their fellow colleagues is not a good practice in police force and it’s a matter of concern. It’s a very serious thing and worrisome too. Senior officers need to mix up with the junior police ranks otherwise this will lead to disasters.”
A senior IPS officer, on condition of anonymity, said, “Senior officers needs to have multiple sources - in police as well as public, relying on one source of information is not very helpful.”
A source said, “Kamte was a brutal cop. He was a boxer and was brutal with the suspects interrogated by him. He was famous for bashing the suspects in police custody.”
