24 May,2011 06:07 AM IST | | Shiva Devnath
Says GRP constable Eknath Mane, who has accused his senior, ACP Bapu Thombre, of playing a part in fudging an FIR and knocking off the names of five accused in a mugging case which took place in January
The past few days have seen a series of skeletons come tumbling out of the closet of the railway security forces, some of whose officers have been after MiD DAY's reporter Akela ever since he exposed how they were allegedly allowing hi-tech arms and ammunition procured after 26/11 to rot in the CST armoury. The latest skeleton concerns Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bapu Thombre of the Government Railway Police (GRP), the cop who sanctioned the slapping of the draconian Official Secrets Act on Akela.
Thombre's subordinate, Constable Eknath Mane, has approached MiD DAY and brought to light how the ACP allegedly fudged a copy of an FIR to let off five accused in a mugging case at CST and then tried to give him Rs 2 lakh to stay mum. The FIR (Number 0002519, dated January 29, 2011) related to a case where Mane and his colleagues nabbed nine suspects in connection with a mugging case in a train at the station. Mane rushed to nab the culprits after complainant Brijesh Singh approached him and said that some unidentified people had looted him of Rs 4,600 in a pantry car stationed at CST.
Fixed! The two versions of the FIR have some glaring differences.
While there was overwriting in the section numbers in the original FIR,
it doesn't show in the 'copy'. Some stamps on the page are also missing.
The Father/Husband's Name column is also different
Mane, who is also a wrestler, sustained a few injuries while arresting the suspects but the police finally overpowered the nine men and took them to the GRP Police Station in CST. Inspector Janardhan Kolekar booked all nine under Sections 353, 504 and 34 of the IPC in Mane's presence. When he reached work the next day, however, Mane was surprised to find that only four people had been booked. He saw the copy of the FIR bearing the same number and date and realised that somebody had altered it. He even found a copy of the original FIR, which the people behind its fudging were waiting to destroy.
Discrepancies
Copies of both FIRs (which are in MiD DAY's possession), while bearing the same number and date, clearly indicate that someone had written the FIR afresh in the guise of making a photocopy. Besides naming four people instead of the original nine, the fudged FIR does not have the original statements on pages 2 and 5 and gives very few details of the incident.
When Mane approached ACP Thombre and pointed out these discrepancies, he was allegedly advised to turn a blind eye to the issue. "I went to meet ACP Thombre, but soon realised that he was helping the suspects himself. He even tried to offer me Rs 2 lakh to settle the matter. He told me that I should forget everything as they (the suspects) were also our friends and we should keep quiet after taking the money," Mane added.
Unhappy with the progress of the case, Mane had been running from pillar to post for the past few months before he decided to approach MiD DAY.u00a0Thombre, and his batchmate, ACP Anil Mahabole, had allegedly threatened Akela when he was taken into police custody on May 17. A complaint to this effect has been lodged with Home Minister R R Patil and both the ACPs have been asked to proceed on leave.
The Other Side
Thombre denied that he had offered money to Mane. When this reporter told him that this newspaper was in possession of two sets of u00a0FIRs bearing the same FIR number, he said he had the original FIR. "I am still investigating the case and will book the culprits if they are found guilty. I will hit Mane with my chappals for accusing me. I am also investigating how two different FIRs regarding the same case and bearing the same number came to be in existence," said Thombre.
