Video catches cop swaying in dance bar

11 May,2011 09:43 AM IST |   |  Ketan Ranga

An assistant inspector of Goregaon police station was caught on camera singing and grooving at a dance bar with bar girls; he denies it ever happened


An assistant inspector of Goregaon police station was caught on camera singing and grooving at a dance bar with bar girls; he denies it ever happened

Video of cop dancing with bar girls


As the city's top cop brandishes protocol to banish all varieties of indecency from the police force, including lewd ringtones, some or the other incident has to nose-dive into public spotlight, despoiling the squeaky clean ivory-white image the police commissioner aspires to. This time, a keeper of the law was found desecrating it, by socialising with the demi- monde at a dance bar. Rights to privacy and leisure may have rescued the cop from charges of inappropriate conduct, except that the law lays down otherwiseu00a0-- the code of conduct in the Bombay Police Act prohibits cops from engaging in such behaviour.


Caught in the act: API Sudhakar Humbeu00a0is attached to the Goregaon
police station. Pic/Mahesh Chafe


It was just one of those days for Sudhakar Humbe, your average cop unwinding in a regular manner at the end of a routine day a while ago. Humbe arrived at his regular haunt ufffd Mansi Bar in Andheri. While letting his hair down, the assistant police inspector attached to Goregoan police station, got wasted, hopped on the dance floor and began gyrating to Marathi tracks. Giving him company in his shimmy-shakes and shoulder jigs were orchestra bar girls, doing the pelvic thrust around him. In short, he was having a memorable time.u00a0

Candid camera
Unfortunately for the cop, memorable became unforgettable, when his capers painting the town red were captured on video. In a two-minute grab (in possession of MiD DAY), the API, is heard singing two songs, Shur aamhi sartaaj and Jai Jai Maharashtra Majha. While chanting, he is seen clutching a mic, commanding centre stage, as he charts a unique choreography to the numbers, some of them duly patriotic. In the footage, he appears gallons away from sober. The electrifying activity in the video peaks when Humbe does a jig. The bar girls flank and sway around him, cheering him on.

The owner of the bar, Arun Shetty, said, "I know the officer, but he has not been coming to our bar lately. I purchased the place some time ago and he was more frequent in his visits during the old owner's tenure."
Given Commissioner Arup Patnaik's now-famous soft spot for strict adherence to form and etiquette, the video may be anything but side-splitting for the cadres. For the record, the Bombay Police Act, 1951, has a code of conduct, which says that police personnel are on duty round the clock and as such, must refrain from any conduct unbecoming that of protectors of the law. Also, an inquiry may be initiated against such coarse bearing.u00a0

'Indecorous'
Advocate Abbas Kazmi of the Bombay High Court said, "A policeman, being a government servant, cannot sing and dance at a bar in this way. It is against their code of conduct. Public servants, behaving in this manner in public places, send a wrong message to society. They can be punished with disciplinary actions."u00a0 Citing a past instance, he said, "Earlier, some officers had been suspended for attending a party thrown by a Chhota Rajan aide." Deputy Commissioner of Police Mahesh Patil said regarding his colleague, "We have to verify whether it is the same officer. We are conducting an inquiry and will take action accordingly."

The Other Side
Humbe denies that it is he in the video, right after attributing the incident to an act of unjust reprisal. "Some people are against me as I have been raiding hookah bars after the commissioner ordered us to shut them down in the area. On some of these raids, a few proprietors had threatened me of dire consequence. I am sure they have released this video clip." He added, "I am not the person in it. This is a conspiracy against me."

Party pooper
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Home Affairs had suspended officers for attending a party organised by a Chhota Rajan aide in Chembur last year on Christmas eve. The officers who were suspended were DCP V N Salve (attached to Special Branch-1), ACP Prakash Wani, Inspector RS Khakale and Assistant Inspector Kholatkar.


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Nrews Mumbai assistant inspector Goregaon police station dance bar