Pune police chief suspends Market Yard senior inspector and two others over lapses

Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar has suspended two officers and a constable just ahead of Diwali. The action is a pointed warning to officers and staff in the force that negligence or dereliction of duty can lead to direct suspension.

One of the actions relates to the stand police took in a hawala case, and was taken against the senior officer of the police station concerned. In the other two cases, a woman officer and a woman constable have been suspended.

Vishwajeet Jagtap, senior police inspector of Market Yard police station, has been hit by the Rs 30 lakh hawala case. Commissioner Amitesh Kumar has ordered his suspension.

According to the complainants' account, on the afternoon of October 7, fifteen days ago, Shravan Devasi and Ganpat Devasi were travelling on a two-wheeler. Five men sprayed something in their faces, snatched a bag containing Rs 30 lakh and fled. Market Yard police were informed, and sub-inspector Akshaykumar Gadgade arrived at the spot with staff.

After gathering details of the incident, they returned to the police station. There, police wrote down the complaint on a sheet of paper and told the complainants they would register the case after checking camera footage. The complainants then had to make repeated trips to the police station to get a complaint registered. Even so, the officers did not register a case of robbery. They only recorded a complaint of missing property.

When the matter reached the commissioner, he found indiscipline and irresponsible conduct in it. Senior inspector Jagtap has been suspended because the image of a disciplined police force was tarnished.

The second action was taken against woman sub-inspector Komal Kacharu Jadhav, who was on duty at Fursungi police station. She was investigating a serious crime, in which she left serious flaws and made inexcusable mistakes, and she has been suspended for this.

In the same case, the accused had applied to the High Court for anticipatory bail. As investigating officer, Jadhav submitted a sketchy and vague report to the court. She was expected to appear in person at the hearing but did not. The order says the commissioner took the suspension action for this reason.

The third action was taken against woman constable Ashwini Kekan. She has been suspended in a case involving driving a car in the wrong direction while drunk, crashing it into a footpath and abusing citizens and other motorists. A video of the entire incident had gone viral on social media. The commissioner suspended her after that video. Kekan is posted at Kalepadal police station. She was on two days' leave when the incident took place.