A police sub inspector and a constable attached to the MHB Colony police station, who were investigating a case of motorcycle theft, were suspended by the Commissioner of Police on Tuesday for allegedly delaying the probe, accepting a bribe and leading a 23-year-old suspect to suicide last week. The two policemen– PSI Bhushan Devare and constable Mahendra Bansode, had allegedly threatened the deceased, Raj Pawar's mother and accepted a settlement amount of ₹20,000.
According to police, Pawar, who was suspected of stealing a bike, allegedly died by suicide at his residence in Dahisar (east) early on March 9. His family alleged Pawar, Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) and an employee of a private firm, took the step following police torture. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police had initiated an inquiry into his death. His family said Pawar’s scooter was towed on February 19. When he went to get his vehicle, he was told it was a stolen vehicle.
Primary probe revealed that the two policemen– Devare and Bansode, had allegedly threatened Pawar's mother of trapping her son in several cases, and demanded ₹25,000 as a bribe. Pawar was using a bike that was towed by the traffic police on February 19 from Thakkar mall, Borivali West and when police checked the record, they found that the bike was stolen and a case was registered at the MHB police station by the owner of the bike.
Pawar was then made a suspect for the motorcycle theft case and for the settlement, policemen demanded ₹20,000, which was taken by constable Bansode. While the police neither arrested him, nor released him, but only kept questioning him, thereby allegedly torturing Pawar. On March 9, when Pawar came home from office at 8am, he hanged himself to death from a ceiling fan. While Pawar was rushed to the hospital for treatment, he was declared dead on arrival.
The MHB police did not recover any suicide note, but the family alleged police torture as a trigger for the extreme step. An enquiry was set up by the police, and iThe police have registered a case of accidental death report (ADR) and further investigation is underway.
