Suicide bid in police custody

“Release me, or I will kill myself,” he had told the police. But the cops at the Shivaji Nagar police station dismissed it as an empty threat, and they almost had a custodial death.

Karim Patel, alias Munna Sarkar, 32, a repeat offender, attempted suicide in police custody when cops refused to release him after arresting him on under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act. 

Patel, a resident of Govandi, was picked up from Mumbra on Saturday afternoon and locked up at the Shivaji Nagar police station for allegedly pick-pocketing,
extorting money and creating communal tension in Shivaji Nagar.

But, to their surprise, Sarkar removed a razor from under his tongue and slashed his throat. He was taken to Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar with a two-inch deep wound and was treated for three days.

“When Sarkar threatened that he would commit suicide, we thought he was kidding,” senior police inspector Shivaji Nimhan of the Shivaji Nagar police station said. “We have to be very careful with criminals like him, who threaten us using such tactics.
Because they know if anything untoward were to happen, then we would be in trouble,” he said.

Sarkar has past cases of extortion, creating communal tension and picking pockets. However, since his illegal activities in the area had increased of late, the police decided to arrest him under the MPDA on Saturday, Nimhan said.
narayan@dnaindia.net