GRP sets up 12 teams to probe police constable’s death

On April 27, constable Vishal Pawar, 30, 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

MUMBAI: The Government Railway Police (GRP) on Thursday registered murder charges against an unknown gang of robbers who allegedly poisoned a police constable on Saturday. The police are working on establishing the exact sequence of events as narrated by the deceased before he passed away on Wednesday and also looking for the accused. The GRP has formed 12 teams for this, and is trying to locate the deceased’s missing mobile phone for clues. It has also sought help from the Mumbai police.

GRP sets up 12 teams to probe police constable’s death

On April 27, constable Vishal Pawar, 30, 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 2 am and boarded a Thane train to go home after he regained consciousness.

“His family admitted him to hospital later that day, as he started vomiting,” said a railway police officer. “They also got in touch with their local police who recorded his statement and registered a case based on it.” The Kopri police then booked four to five unknown accused under various sections of the IPC. Following Pawar’s death, the case was transferred to the Dadar GRP, which added Section 302 (murder).

The investigators are currently unable to gather corroborative evidence regarding some of the details mentioned in the deceased’s statement. “He said that after he regained consciousness, he crawled back to Matunga station around 2 am,” said a police officer. “He said that since the trains were not working at the time, he decided to sleep on a bench. We have not found any CCTV footage to corroborate this. The spot where the alleged confrontation with the gang happened is not covered by CCTV cameras, but we did not get any reports of an unconscious person lying by the tracks that night.”

The police, however, did find footage of Pawar outside Dadar station around Sunday midnight. They also have footage of him alighting from the train at Thane station around midday on Monday. His phone was not on his person when he returned home. “It is still missing. It has been switched off now and we are trying to locate it,” said the officer. One important line of investigation that the police are pursuing is to locate the person whose phone Pawar said he had used on Monday morning to call his cousin before boarding the train to Thane.

“In our preliminary investigations, through technical details like mobile location and CCTV cameras, we have found that Pawar reached Dadar station and was in Dadar around 11.40 pm on April 27,” said a police officer, elaborating on the discrepancies. “However, he said in his statement that he lost his phone near Matunga station. We have also found that he visited a nearby hotel.”

Police sources said the investigations were at a primary stage, but they were hoping to get crucial information from the post-mortem report from Thane Civil Hospital. The hospital has reserved its opinion after the post-mortem and sent the viscera for further analysis to the Kalina Forensic Laboratory.

“We also want to record the statements of Pawar’s family members but they are in Chalisgaon for his last rites,” said the police officer.