Navi Mumbai: Two cops suspended for dereliction of duty

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Two constables of Navi Mumbai police have been placed under suspension for alleged dereliction of duty after their crackdown on a gambling activity led to an accident in which one person was injured in Panvel, an official told news agency PTI on Saturday.

As per an order issued by the Navi Mumbai police on Friday, constables Amol Shankar Doiphode and Chandrashekar Walmik Chowdhary have been placed under suspension, reported PTI.

The policemen were called to a spot by their senior officer and were heading there in a jeep, when they spotted some people gambling at an open ground near a college and decided to intervene, it said.

Without informing the senior officer, the duo drove the police jeep towards the gambling spot and lost control of the vehicle, which knocked down a man and dashed the compound wall of the college, the order stated, reported PTI.

The policemen's action amounted to dereliction and insubordination of duties and was not in keeping with the discipline of the police department, it said.

Meanwhile, Police on Friday conducted raids at various locations in Navi Mumbai as part of a crackdown on drug peddlers and seized narcotics worth more than Rs 2 crore, an official told PTI.

As many as 75 foreign nationals are being questioned by the police for their suspected involvement in drug peddling, he said.

Drugs worth more than Rs 2 crore were seized during the raids. These included 700 grams of cocaine, more than 300 grams of mephedrone (MD) and 300 kg of tramadol hydrochloride, a psychotropic substance, said the official told PTI.

More than 600 police officers and personnel took part in the search and seizure operation, he added.

In another case, the Navi Mumbai police have arrested an auto-rickshaw driver and a labourer for allegedly electrical goods worth Rs 13.5 lakh from a container in Kharghar area, an official told PTI on Thursday.

The incident took place on the intervening night of Tuesday-Wednesday, the official from Kharghar police station told PTI.

Some unidentified persons broke open the container parked at a CIDCO water plant in Kharghar and stole various items including conductors and earth wires worth Rs 13.5 lakh belonging to a contractor, the official told PTI.

After examining CCTV footage of the area and working on various leads, the police arrested a 28-year-old auto-rickshaw driver and a labourer aged 32 late Wednesday night from Kharghar, the official told PTI.

The police were in the process of recovering the stolen goods, the official told PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)