5 cops suspended for celebrating goon’s birthday inside Bhandup police station
A probe was ordered after the video of the celebration, in which officials were seen celebrating with Ayaan Khan inside the station premises, went viral (screengrab from the video)
Five policemen, including two officers, attached with Bhandup police station were suspended after a video of them celebrating a local goon’s birthday inside the police chowky went viral.
In the video, officials, both in uniform and civil clothes, can be seen cheering and offering cake to Ayaan Khan during his birthday celebration on July 22. The birthday was celebrated in a room inside the police station.
The video, which started doing rounds of social media last week, was brought to the attention of senior officers, following which Joint Police Commissioner Vinoy Kumar Choubey ordered a high-level probe into the incident.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone VII) Akhilesh Singh, who was tasked with investigating the incident, submitted his preliminary findings yesterday.
Sub-inspectors Pankaj Shewale and Sachin Kokare, along with constables Subhash Ghosalkar, Anil Gaikwad and Maruti Jumade were all found guilty and placed under suspension. A preliminary enquiry (PE) has also been initiated against them.
The station’s night in-charge, inspector Ramesh Khade, is also under scanner for allowing the celebrations and the lack of discipline among his subordinates.
Reacting to the incident, a senior official told a leading daily that the cops had likely asked Khan to bring the cake to the station as he wouldn’t have dared to do it otherwise.
Khan has been previously booked for kidnapping and assault but exonerated in both cases. In the first case, he was charged with kidnapping a woman in 2010. However, the case was dropped after he married he complainant.
In the assault case, the investigation could not establish his involvement in the crime.
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