Cop suspended for not filing cases against prawn thieves

Assistant police inspector (API) Raju Narwade has been suspended by Dattaray Shinde, superintendent of police (SP) Palghar, on Wednesday, for not taking cognisance

Assistant police inspector (API) Raju Narwade has been suspended by Dattaray Shinde, superintendent of police (SP) Palghar, on Wednesday, for not taking cognisance of the complaints about ‘prawn thieves’. Narwade was in charge of Kelwe coastal police station which has scores of prawn farms under its jurisdiction.

HT Image

The officer has been suspended with immediate effect and API Mansinh Patil, formerly with the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Palghar, has been given charge of Kelwe police station, said Shinde.

On 16 June, a mob of around 125 men and women entered a prawn farm owned by Anant Govind Patil of Jalsar-Tembhikodave village and looted 300kg prawns worth nearly ₹1 lakh. When Patil went to lodge a complaint, API Narwade turned him away and reprimanded him for not employing security guards at his farm. He also said the police have other work to do instead of guarding prawn farms spread over 250 acres in Saphale, said a police source.

In another case, a group of 16 dacoits in boats entered a prawn farm at Khardi-Dativare owned by Nachiket Patil of Pune and attacked the watchmen and other labourers at the farm with sickles, knives and stones, and stole around 65kg prawns worth around ₹60,000 on June 18. Narwade, who received a written complaint from an employee of the prawn firm, did not register an FIR.

When the SP got to know about the developments, he ordered API Narwade to register a case under section 395 (dacoity) of the Indian Penal Code on June 23. Six accused have been arrested in the case, and more arrests are likely.

Citing that API Narwade did not take serious note of dacoity in prawn farms, the SP suspended him on Wednesday, said a PRO of Palghar police.