A railway police constable recently attempted suicide by drinking phenol in the presence of a senior inspector allegedly following repeated mental harassment by senior officers.
A railway police constable recently attempted suicide by drinking phenol in the presence of a senior inspector allegedly following repeated mental harassment by senior officers.
Ganesh Kamble, 35, who has been with the Bandra railway police for five years now, said while on duty at the Santa Cruz railway station on January 25, he stepped out to get his lunch box around 11.45am. Within a few minutes, a sub-inspector, Chavan, arrived at his table to assess the work being done.
“My colleague told him that I had gone to get the lunch box and that I would return soon. But, Chavan marked me absent. After I got back, I met Chavan and assistant sub-inspector Kumkar, who used unparliamentary words and alleged that I had been frequently absenting myself from work. I was upset the whole day,” said Kamble.
Later that night, around 8pm, he bought two 100ml bottles of phenol and drank one on his way to the Bandra railway police station. He even wrote a suicide note in Marathi, addressing his senior inspector, Vijay Dhopavkar. He then walked into Dhopavkar’s chamber and complained to him. But, the senior inspector was reportedly in no mood to listen to him. “I opened another bottle of phenol and drank it in his presence. I, then, broke the bottle there and ran away.” Dhopavkar reportedly ordered his subordinates to nab Kamble.
When he started to feel giddy, Kamble admitted himself in the Bhabha Hospital at Bandra and told his wife, Madhuri, about the incident. He complained that save some colleagues, no senior officers visited him at the hospital. He was discharged from the Bhabha Hospital on January 27, but will be readmitted to the Nagpada police hospital on Monday for further treatment.
Madhuri alleged that a day after the suicide attempt, a police constable offered her and her mother, Lata Pawar, Rs500 to hush up the matter. Kamble’s wife has demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident.
Dhopavkar, however, rubbished Kamble’s claims. “The allegations against are false. I never harassed him. On the night of January 25, he suddenly came into my chamber and asked me to give him permission to commit suicide. I told him committing suicide is an offence and that if he was facing a problem, I would sort it out. But he didn’t listen to me and drank the phenol,” he claimed.
Dhopavkar alleged that Kamble was never punctual and often didn’t report for work. In 2011, he added, Kamble was absent from duty for 24 days.
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