Mumbai: Four suspended policemen from Khar police station, including a sub-inspector, face charges of disobedience, kidnapping, wrongful confinement and causing hurt for planting drugs and falsely implicating a person on Aug 30. The Vakola police station registered an FIR on Thursday against sub-inspector Tukaram Omble, constables Imran Shaikh, Sagar Kamble and Shinde alias Dabang Shinde. The FIR followed a departmental inquiry report and victim Dylan Estbeiro’s statement. The inquiry was conducted by an assistant commissioner of police .
DCP (Zone IX) Dikshit Gedam confirmed that the departmental inquiry report had been submitted a fortnight ago. He, however, withheld probe details. He verified the FIR registration at Vakola police station, within Zone-8’s jurisdiction where the offence occurred. The suspended officers allegedly targeted Estbeiro’s employer and friend Shahbaz Khan (32), who owns a 2-acre plot in Kalina valued at Rs 400 crore. Khan revealed that the officers allegedly planned the drug-planting incident on the instructions of a developer who was interested in the plot. “During the departmental inquiry, the victim was asked to answer 200 questions by the investigating officers,” he said.
The incident was captured on CCTV, unknown to the four cops. Khan and Estbeiro nearly fell victim to their staged drug raid. “They even offered me Rs 20 lakh to prevent me from posting CCTV footage on social media that showed them planting drugs in Estbeiro’s pocket. Estbeiro, an employee at my pet farm, was illegally detained at the Khar police chowky for two-and-a-half hours, where he was assaulted and pressured to confess that the 20gm mephedrone found on him was provided by Khan. The incident has left Estbeiro and his elderly parents deeply shaken,” said Khan.
Estbeiro in his complaint said: “The cops suddenly entered the hutment in plainclothes. They asked me to raise my hands. One of them put his hands in my trouser pocket and I immediately realised that he has put something inside. Before I could react, they said they found the drugs and forcibly dragged me out and made me sit in a waiting cab and drove to a beat chowky where they assaulted me from 6 pm to 8.30 pm on Friday. They freed me after learning that the CCTV footage about the fake raid had been circulated on social media. They asked me if I need money to travel back, but I refused.”
Khan said that the officers believed the CCTV was non-operational and that their misdeeds won’t be exposed.
