Six months after a jeweller from Solapur district died in the custody of Karad police, the criminal investigation department (CID) arrested ten policemen, including an assistant police inspector, in the case.
Satara superintendent of police Sandip Patil said, “The ten policemen, who surrendered on Wednesday , have been booked under Sections 302 (murder) and Section 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) of IPC. Suspended police inspector Vikas Dhas is absconding and we are searching for him.”
On June 17, the Karad police had detained jeweller Raosaheb Jadhav (42) of Nimbore village in Solapur district, suspecting his involvement in a theft. He died while in police custody the following day .
The police had picked up Jadhav as part of their investigation in the complaint registered by Vikram Srimal Jain, a jeweller from Goregaon, Mumbai, on May 12 with the Khandala police station.Jain had told the police that 2.5kg gold jewellery and Rs 2.2 lakh in cash, totally worth Rs 77 lakh, were stolen while he was travelling in a private luxury bus from Kolhapur to Mumbai.
He suspected that three people who alighted from the bus at Karad were involved in the theft. The case was forwarded to the Karad police, who picked up Jadhav from his residence in Solapur as he was suspected to have got down from the same bus at Karad.
Twelve policemen, including inspector Dhas, were suspended by SP Patil and the CID took over the investigation. On July 16, the CID arrested constable Krishna Babasaheb Khade. The remaining 11 cops had then applied for anticipatory bail in the Bombay high court, and it was rejected on December 20.The CID finally arrested ten policemen on Wednesday .
The arrested cops have been identified as assistant police inspector Hanmant Lingappa Kankadaki, constables Dilip Maruti Kshirsagar, Sudhir Subhash Jadhav, Rajkumar Bhimashankar Koli, Atul Sampatrao Deshmukh, Nitin Chandrakant Kadam, Sumeet Vijay Mohite, Sharad Somaji Mane, Sanjay Manaji Kate and Amol Arjun Pawar. They have been remanded in police custody till December 31.