Mumbai: 7 cops transferred to local arms division for 'manhandling' passport matter

Seven police personnel from the Samta Nagar police station in Kandivali east, including one senior inspector and two other officers, have been transferred to the Local Arms (LA) division as a disciplinary action over the allegation of 'mishandling' a passport matter.

The action is the result of the announcement made by the top cop that the city residents will no longer be called to the police stations for verification, except in exceptional cases when the documents are incomplete.

According to police sources, the disciplinary action comes after a citizen tweeted that he was allegedly called for passport renewal and an argument ensued between that person and the police personnel. A video of the incident had gone viral, said police.

Officials said that the man who hails from Karnataka, had applied for his passport renewal, however, during scrutiny, the officials of Samta Nagar police found multiple cases against him. The police asked him to produce discharged documents when the applicant claimed that he has been discharged in all cases which led to an argument between the two parties.

The applicant had recorded a video of their alleged argument and shared it on the video-sharing platform YouTube claiming police had harassed him. When the video reached the Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey, he swung into action and transferred the cops while initiating an inquiry.

Pandey has said in his interaction that in a streamline to make the passport verification simpler and faster, the local police station will send a constable to the residence of the citizen for verification, adding that a citizen will be called to the police station only if there is a discrepancy.