Mumbai constable assaulted by 3 men at Powai; BJP MLA denies asking police to drop the case

A constable who tried to intervene in a case of road rage at Powai on Monday was beaten up by three alleged Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) workers. The constable, identified as Nitin Khairmode, attached to Powai police station, has been admitted to hospital with severe injuries.

Maheshwar Reddy, deputy commissioner of police, zone 10, confirmed the incident but refused to identify if the accused belonged to any political party. According to Powai police, the three men, identified as Sachin Tiwari, Deepu Tiwari and Ayush Rajbhar, all residents of Vikhroli, were riding together on a motorcycle and crashed into a car being driven by a woman doctor around 3pm outside Galleria Mall. The doctor confronted the trio, following which an argument ensued.

Khairmode, who was on patrolling duty, noticed the altercation and intervened. When the constable was about to handcuff one of the accused, they started assaulting him and hit him with the handcuffs. Khairmode, who was injured, managed to call for reinforcements from the police station. A team of police officers rushed to the spot and arrested Sachin but Deepu and Rajbhar managed to escape. Khairmode was rushed to a hospital where his condition is critical.

Following the incident, an audio clip of a phone call between BJP MLA Ram Kadam and a Powai police officer was leaked online.

In the call, Kadam is heard telling the officer to be considerate about the accused as it would ruin their lives. “I would request you to consider the repercussions they will have to face as such cases lead to the conviction of five years of imprisonment. I would request you to be considerate and help them,” Kadam said to the police constable over the phone.

Kadam later clarified that he was not asking the officer to withdraw the case against the three men. He instead claimed that two of the accused were minors and needed to be treated as such. “Two of the accused in the case are minors at 12 and 16 years of age, while the third one is 22. Since they are from my constituency, I thought it appropriate to learn what happened, so I called the police personnel. I told him that I would not support the action of the accused, and would have personally slapped them had I been in Mumbai,” Kadam said. Police have not confirmed the ages of the accused.