Pune Aundh Shailesh Tower Case: Two policemen suspended from service for dereliction on duty

Pune: Praveen Ramesh Gore and Anil Dattu Awghade, the two policemen who ran away from the Shailesh Tower society in Aundh instead of nabbing the burglars at the spot, have been suspended from the Pune Police department. Deputy Commissioner of Police Namrata Patil issued the orders of their suspension.

Primary investigations into the matter revealed that police personnel Anil Awghade was armed with a rifle when the incident happened, but instead of using it to deter the criminals, he ran away from the spot.

Four suspects had entered the Shailesh Tower society in Aundh in the wee hours of Tuesday (December 29). Two suspects threatened the security guard of the society while the other two went ahead to burgle some houses with the help of a cutter. The suspects broke open locks of four flats and while they were attempting to break another lock, they heard that some people had gathered around the society. So they tried to escape from there. The suspects had stolen LCD television set from a house. Meanwhile, some residents of Shailesh Tower informed police about the theft happening at the society.

After receiving the call, the police control room informed the two policemen – who were the beat marshall in the area – about the incident. The duo reached the spot at around 3.15 am near the society. The four suspects were carrying knives, cutter and the stolen items. Upon seeeing armed robbers, police constable Gore ran away with the bike, while leaving behind Awghade with his weapon.

One of suspects came towards Awghade and raised a sharp weapon to scare him. Another suspect shouted ‘gadi nikalo… inhe thok do’. Awghade had a SLR rifle with him, but instead of using it to deter the suspects he did nothing. Neither Awghade tried to chase the suspects nor he informed the police control room over wireless broadcast system. The entire incident has been captured in the CCTV cameras of the society.

If Awghade had informed the control room, they could have alerted other police stations in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad city and tried to nab the suspects.