Mobile thieves kill constable chasing them by injecting poison

A 30-year-old constable posted with the Local Arms unit of the Mumbai police died in a hospital, days after a gang of robbers and drug addicts allegedly injected him with a poisonous substance on railway tracks while he struggled to recover his phone from them, an official said on Thursday.

The constable, Vishal Pawar, was a resident of Thane. He was admitted to a hospital in Thane, but lost the battle for life three days later on May 1, he said.

"The incident occurred around 9.30 pm on April 28 when Pawar was going for duty on board a suburban train in plain clothes," the official said.

Pawar was standing near the door and was talking on his phone. As the train slowed down between Sion and Matunga stations in Mumbai, an unidentified man standing near the tracks hit Pawar's hand, due to which his mobile phone fell down, he said.

The accused picked up the phone and started running between the tracks. As the train was slow, Pawar got down and started chasing the thief. After some distance, he was surrounded by a group of drug addicts and soon a scuffle broke out between them. They started pushing and manhandling Pawar, the police official said.

"During the scuffle, one of the accused persons injected Pawar with a poisonous substance on his back while others held him," he said, adding that they also poured a red colour liquid in his mouth.

Pawar fell unconscious. He regained his consciousness the next morning and managed to return home, the official added.

But as his condition worsened, his family members shifted him to a hospital in Thane city.

Officials of the Kopri police station recorded his statement and registered a case against unidentified persons. The case was then transferred to the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Dadar.

"During the treatment, Pawar's health deteriorated and he died on Wednesday," the official said.

The GRP officials have launched a probe in the case and they have formed several teams to nab the accused, he said.