The Bombay high court on Wednesday asked the Mumbai police commissioner to direct all officers to furnish details of the mobile phones they use.
The Bombay high court on Wednesday asked the Mumbai police commissioner to direct all officers to furnish details of the mobile phones they use.
A division bench of justices BH Marlapalle and UD Salvi was hearing a petition filed by activist Aminuddin Saeed, who has sought action against assistant police inspector Balasaheb Khade attached to the Oshiwara police station. Khade allegedly asked for a bribe to “settle” an alleged rape case against Saeed’s friend Umesh Reshamwala. The conversation was recorded on tape. The police stated that Khade, who owned two mobile phones, did not make the call using either.
The judges wondered aloud how an API, after all deductions in salary and having a family to support, could afford two mobile phones. “Why does an assistant police inspector need two phones?” asked justice Marlapalle. He added: “He made a call from someone else’s phone. This speaks of the Bombay police (sic). At one point of time, the Bombay police was number one in the world. Where are we now?” rued justice Marlapalle.
In their order, the judges stated: “This instance calls for the commissioner of police to direct all police officers in his force to furnish details of mobile phones they are using. If any officer is found using a phone, the details of which have not been provided, he should face action,” the court ordered.
The judges were infuriated when Saeed’s advocate Pradeep Havnur submitted that the Kalina Forensic Laboratory (FSL) has not yet verified the voice after the tape of the sting operation was sent to it. “Close it down,” said justice Marlapalle. He added: “The lab is going to be a liability and not a laboratory. This is not acceptable. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” he said. The judges have directed the secretary of the home department and the FSL in-charge to remain present before it on June 21.
In February 2010, Saeed's petition stated, his friend Umesh Reshamwala, who suffers from polio, sought his help saying an upcoming model had threatened to get him arrested on charges of rape if he did not buy her a house and a car.
Saeed claimed that when he went to the Oshiwara police station to lodge a compliant, Khade asked him to come later. He went on February 7, 2010, when Khade allegedly said he had received a complaint against Reshamwala in a sex scandal. Saeed said that Khade allegedly demanded Rs2 lakh to settle the matter, failing which even he would be implicated in the sex scandal. The next day, Saeed approached the Anti Corruption Bureau.
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