According to the family, Shirke was on duty on Friday night and the absent entry made in the station diary was a lie.
A day after ASI Dilip Shirke (55) killed himself after shooting down his superior to death, the family of Shirke is aghast at the behaviour of the police department that he served for over 30 years. The family members have claimed that Shirke was constantly facing harassment from his superiors and they had been telling him to quit his job. They also said that a case of murder against him is unjust and that they will approach the director general of police Sanjeev Dayal to complain against Shirke's superiors, including Rakesh Maria.
Shirke's son Abhishek, 26, a TY BCom student, told dna, "My father was under tremendous stress and was depressed. He was constantly being picked by his seniors and he had tiffs with senior PI Vilas Joshi and another PI (name withheld) of Vakola police station as they used to question him unnecessarily about his leave and performance. He would always come home upset."
Abhishek added that when Maria spoke to him after the incident, he was constantly asking him about Shirke's leave records and reasons for it. "Maria is lying and he is finding reasons to show my father as a villain. He is trying to protect his department. My father had taken some leave in January and he wanted clarifications for that," added Abhishek.
According to the family, Shirke was on duty on Friday night and the absent entry made in the station diary was a lie. He said that after finishing his duty, Shirke was back home and even attended a wedding. When he went back to the station, he was shocked to see his name in the absent entry. He said that the PI who marked the information in the diary was deliberately doing it as he was always in loggerheads with Shirke.
"My father was always being targetted by the department since the time he took 70 days of leave in 2012 as he was sick and had to be hospitalised. Following this, a departmental inquiry was launched. His increment was also stopped. This came as a shock to him. Due to this, he was very depressed. It is the department that killed him," added Abhishek.
Another family member said that Shirke couldn't take it since his work ethics was being questioned. A family member said, "If somebody shoots his senior and kills himself, there should be good reason for it, and in this case, it is because he was humiliated and harassed despite giving his heart and soul to the department. We had asked him to quit but he was staying on for the sake of providing for his family."
Shirke is survived by his wife Dipti, son Abhishek, daughters Shruti (22) and Pranoti (24).
Shirke's body was kept in the ground floor of his police colony residence in Kalina for people to pay last respects. After this, his body was taken for funeral to Kherwadi. The funeral was attended by friends, neighbours and a few police officers, the senior most being a deputy commissioner of police.
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