GRP probe reveals dead constable’s claim of poisoning by robbers was false

Pawar, in his statement, told the railway police that the gang injected him with poison and also forced some liquid into his mouth

MUMBAI: A day after the Government Railway Police (GRP) formed a 12-member team to investigate the alleged poisoning of 30-year-old constable Vishal Pawar, the probe revealed that Pawar’s claim that he was poisoned by robbers on April 27, was false. The officers said there were several anomalies in Pawar’s statement given to the Kopri police at a Thane hospital before his death on April 29.

30-year-old constable Vishal Pawar

The Dadar GRP officers said that after the case was transferred to them on Wednesday, they checked CCTV footage of the spots mentioned by Pawar in his statement, like railway stations, platforms, railway bridges and other establishments. However, they found him to be at other places at different times. Officers said there was a gap of around 5 hours between Pawar’s claim of when the incident took place and the CCTV footage.

On April 27, Vishal Pawar was speaking on his phone at the door of the train compartment before Matunga station when the robbers stole it. As the train was moving slowly, Pawar jumped on the tracks and confronted them between Matunga and Sion stations.

Pawar, in his statement, told the railway police that the gang injected him with poison and also forced some liquid into his mouth. He said that he fell unconscious soon after that and crawled back to Matunga station at around 2am and boarded a Thane train to go home after he regained consciousness. He was undergoing treatment at a hospital where he died two days later.

GRP officials privy to the investigation said that there are many discrepancies in Pawar’s statement, and they have learnt that he was not attacked by any robbers of “fatka gang,” as claimed by him. The officials have not been able to corroborate many facts mentioned by him in his statement. For example, the officers said, his mobile location and CCTV footage showed he reached Dadar station around 11.40pm on April 27 and visited a nearby hotel.

Pawar had also said that after he gained consciousness, he crawled back to Matunga station around 1.30am, but the police did not see him in any CCTV footage of the railway station. Instead, the GRP found footage in which Pawar was captured outside Dadar around midnight on Sunday. They also have footage of him alighting the train at Thane station around midday on Monday.

“Pawar’s phone is still missing. It has been switched off now. We are trying to locate the device. We have formed 12 teams and have also approached the city police to help with the case,” said Anil Kadam, senior police inspector of Dadar GRP.

Another GRP official said that whatever happened to the constable, it happened after 1.30am on April 27, as the Kopri police went to the hospital on April 29 - two days after he was admitted. The police said that Pawar had no visible injuries, but the chemical analysis of his viscera is pending with the Kalina forensic science laboratory to find out whether he was poisoned.

Apart from trying to trace Pawar’s mobile handset, the police are also trying to locate the person whose mobile phone Pawar used on Monday morning to call his cousin before boarding a train to Thane.