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Truant constable, two other Mumbai Police cops who marked him present suspended
Three constables attached to the local arms division were suspended from the force. One of the constables, Pravin Deshmukh, was suspended after the police discovered
Three constables attached to the local arms division were suspended from the force. One of the constables, Pravin Deshmukh, was suspended after the police discovered that he visited his native place at Nashik for around 45 days in April without taking an official leave, but was marked present for bandobast duty.
“Two other constables, who were in-charge of assigning duties, helped him by marking him present at duty. They have been suspended as well and an inquiry is ongoing,” additional commissioner of police S Jaykumar said. The police said, prima facie it appears that the two constables, Pankaj Mali and Ashish Nerkar, reaped monetary benefits by marking the constable’s attendance.
The incident was brought to light by a police personnel after he discovered that though Deshmukh was not reporting for duty, his attendance was being marked. Following this, an inquiry was conducted and it was found that Deshmukh never attended duty in April.On probing further, the police discovered that the duty chart was maintained by Mali and Nerkar.
Based on the police’s inquiry, a disciplinary action was taken against the three constables and they were suspended till the completion of the probe, the police said.
The police force is facing a staff crunch after the commissioner exempted all the personnel above the age of 55 years from reporting to duty owing to the Covid-19 outbreak. Consequently, the leaves of all the other personnel were cancelled, and those who went on leave or were absent from work were asked to report to duty immediately.
Around a week ago, two constables were dismissed from the force for not reporting to duty despite several warnings. Both were suspended earlier and were asked to be present for an inquiry. However, after they failed to be present for the inquiry, their dismissal orders were passed.
In June, a criminal case was registered against six personnel attached with Borivli police station for not reporting to duty despite several warnings.
