They were bashed blue by an allegedly drunk mob over a petty quarrel and had to be rescued by a reinforcement van, but not before many had received serious injuries.
A routine response to a distress call turned out to be a nightmare for a few cops of the Powai police station on Wednesday night.
They were bashed blue by an allegedly drunk mob over a petty quarrel and had to be rescued by a reinforcement van, but not before many had received serious injuries.
At around midnight, the Powai police received a complaint from Dr Rajkumar Bhardwaj, a palmist, that someone had damaged the rear windshield of his son-in-law’s car. The vehicle was parked in the space meant for visitors to a handicraft fair being organised at the ground near Jalvayu Vihar. Dr Bhardwaj had a stall at the fair and his son-in-law had come to meet him. When the two returned to the car around midnight, they found the car’s windshield smashed, and informed the police.
A police team of two constables reached the spot and started enquiring with people at the fair. Not satisfied with their inquiry, Dr Bhardwaj asked the police to dispatch a senior officer. Soon after, police sub-inspector S Kharat arrived at the scene with another constable.
While looking around, two constables arrived at an open space behind the exhibition premises, and found that around seven to eight people were consuming alcohol. When questioned, they responded by asking the officials how they could enter without permission, and started abusing them.
On hearing the heated arguments, PSI Kharat reached the venue and asked the people to come to the wireless van and sit inside it.
Assistant police inspector SS Pradhan from the Powai police station said, “It was then that the key accused, Balbir Singh, 35, who runs a real estate agency in the area, banged his head on a cylinder kept in the van and wiped the blood stains on Kharat’s uniform. He then started screaming that the police officials had assaulted him. By then, a crowd of around 15 people gathered there and started beating up the policemen.”
“I rushed there with a police team and had to resort to a mild lathi-charge to control the rioting mob which had by now started throwing the earthen pots and china clay vases kept at the exhibition at us. One of them hit me on the head, and I have suffered five stitches.”
PSI Kharat received injuries to the face, chest and hands, while police constable S Patil, who is the complainant in the case, suffered injuries to the face, hands and stitches on the lips. The other two police constables were also hurt in the incident.
Senior police inspector Ashok Jadhav of the Powai police station said, “We have arrested seven people, including Singh, and have booked them for rioting and assaulting a government servant.
They have been remanded in police custody till December 6, and a search has been launched for the remaining accused.”
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