Cop attached to Thane commissionerate suspended for molesting women colleagues

More than a dozen colleagues complained against Reserve Police Inspector Namdeo Shinde

A Reserve Police Inspector (RPI) attached to the Thane police commissionerate has been suspended for allegedly molesting more than a dozen of his women colleagues.

Shinde was suspended following a departmental inquiry. (Representational image)

Namdeo Shinde was suspended from Friday onwards after an order by Thane police commissioner Param Bir Singh on Thursday. Shinde was found guilty in a departmental inquiry by the Thane police.

In December 2017, a woman police constable wrote an application to a senior police officer of Thane commissionerate and complained that Shinde used to touch her and others inappropriately and also used to abuse them verbally. On January 24, an FIR was registered against him. Soon after, more than a dozen women police personnel also alleged Shinde had molested them. But no other formal complaint was registered.

A senior police officer from Thane commissionerate said, “Namdeo Shinde was suspended from Friday onwards and in our inquiry he was found guilty. There were more than a dozen complaints against him, out of which FIR was registered in one case with the Thane nagar police station under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.”

She added, “The case was kept very confidential. When something wrong happens there should be immediate action on it. Normally we lodge a case for any petty crime and arrest the accused but it took one month for a departmental inquiry to begin to verify things and register a case.”