Pune: Two cops from Bund Garden station suspended on charges of helping dismissed cop and MCOCA suspect Shailesh Jagtap

Last updated Oct 17, 2020

Pune: Two police officers from the Bund Garden police department were suspended from their service on charges of helping dismissed cop Shailesh Jagtap – a suspect recently booked under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in connection with several extortion cases – while he was apparently on a hunger strike in the Sassoon Hospital.

Assistant Police Inspector Suresh Ghorpade and Assistant Police Sub Inspector Rajesh Ishwar Kamble have been suspended from service. Additional Police Commissioner Dr Sanjay Shinde issued orders regarding their suspension after receiving an enquiry report in this case.

Shailesh Jagtap has been under arrest in several cases of extortion and land grabbing lodged at various police stations in the city. Jagtap along with RTI activist Ravindra Barhate – who is still absconding and evading arrest despite his anticipatory bail being rejected by the Supreme Court – has been allegedly involved in at least 14 cases of extortion, intimidation and land grab registered in the Kothrud, Hadapsar, Khadak and other police stations.

Jagtap is in judicial custody as of now. While he was being treated at Sassoon hospital, Jagtap had allegedly gone on hunger strike since October 11. API Ghorpade and APSI Kamble were on duty at the Pune Station police chowky during that time and were asked to go and counsel Jagtap. When API Ghorpade reached Sassoon hospital, Jagtap told him that he went on a hunger strike to protest against the pressure tactics by slapping MCOCA against him. However, API Ghorpade did not inform this to his seniors and instead asked his subordinates to make a ‘station diary entry’ (an official entry in the police record).

APSI Kamble clicked a photograph of this station diary entry and posted it in several whatsapp groups which later went viral amongst other whatsapp groups. Since the station diary is a confidential record book of the police department, action was initiated against APSI Kamble and API Ghorpade.

Ghorpade and Kamble have been transferred to Police Headquarters at Shivajinagar. They have been asked to stay in Pune city limits. They are not allowed to leave city police jurisdiction without a permission from the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) rank officer, Additional Commissioner of Police Dr Shinde has mentioned in his order.