SRPF jawan deserts team to be with wife

A State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) jawan had fled after boarding a train for Nagpur at CST on August 9. A missing person’s report was filed and search was on to find him.

On Tuesday, he surfaced in the sessions court seeking anticipatory bail, which was granted to him.

Pramod Patil was in the team of 102 jawans and 10 officers of Goregaon SRPF (Group VIII) who were to leave Nagpur by Vidharbha Express from CST at 7.10pm as they had been shifted to naxal-hit Gadchiroli.

After occupying the berth in the compartment, one of the officers, Manohar Bhosale, noticed that Patil was missing after he had kept his bag and SLR (Self Loading Rifle) on the berth. He along with other officers searched for him on the premises for 30 minutes but couldn’t find him. His mobile phone was switched off.

The train left for Nagpur with the rest. Inspector Manohar Bhosale filed a missing person’s complaint at CST railway police station on the same night.

On Tuesday, Patil went to the sessions court and also reported at the police station. The jawan, who is from Chandgad taluka in Kolhapur district, was released on bail. “Patil got an anticipatory bail from sessions court last week. He was released by the police after he furnished Rs25,000 solvency sureties,” said senior police inspector Ashok Kumar Jadhav.

Patil reportedly told the police that his pregnant wife had a health problem. So, he ran away from CST station to be with her.