4 held for trying to drown cop on visarjan duty

KALYAN: Four people have been arrested for beating up police officer and trying to drown him in a lake at Kalyan during Ganesha immersion on Tuesday night. The four

KALYAN: Four people have been arrested for beating up police officer and trying to drown him in a lake at Kalyan during Ganesha immersion on Tuesday night. The four men were booked for attempt to murder after a video of the incident went viral on social media.

HT Image

The accused are Bandesh Datta Gaikwad,21, Nayan Dilip Gaikwad,22, and Nareah Mahadu Gaikwad,32 and Rahul Vishwanath Gaikwad,30 belong to the same family and are all residents of Kalyan.

After their arrests, all four confessed to the crime and will be produced in court on Thursday.

Around 9:30pm on Tuesday, the police received complaints that a group had stopped immersion at a lake in Teesgaon, but devotees were arriving in batches and the crowd was growing.

The accused, all members of the Jari Mari Ganesh Utsav Mandal, allegedly kept their idol near a barricade, which halted the whole process. When they were asked to join the queue, they objected.

“The place was getting crowded. It was then that sub inspector Nitin Dhagle, the officer on duty, decided to get the immersion process started again,” said an official from the Kolshewadi police station. The official said the four accused jumped the barricade and pushed Dhagle into the lake. “He was beaten up and one of the men tried to jump on Dhagle to drown him.”

Dhagle managed to save himself, but not before he was also attacked by the other three. Dhagle suffered from severe cramps and taken to a nearby hospital. Police inspector Saju Jhon from Kolshewadi police station said, “It is sad the officer was beaten up for doing his duty. He just asked the accused not to create any problem and requested them to immerse the idol, but they started arguing.”