ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

Cops punished for attack on ex-mayor

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde today suspended and transferred officers attached to the Mahim police station following last night's attempt to murder ex-mayor Milind Vaidya.

Munde, who is also the state's home minister, said Senior Police Inspector V D Pawar has been suspended while Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IV) Ashok Dongre and Assistant Commissioner of Police (Mahim division) have been transferred for dereliction of duty.

The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of top police officers to take stock of the law-and-order situation in Bombay.

Chief Minister Narayan Rane, Police Commissioner Ronald Mendonca, and senior police officers from Bombay and neighbouring Thane district attended the meeting.

Munde said police suspect the involvement of gangster Rajendra Nikhalje aka Chhota Rajan in the attack. He vowed that the five assailants would be arrested in a day or two.

Meanwhile, a third person, Deepak Aakre (35), died of his injuries at midnight, taking the toll in the shootout to three. Police said a carbine was used in the attack.

Commissioner Mendonca has ordered all police personnel on leave to report back to work.

Shopkeepers in Mahim and Dadar areas of central Bombay downed their shutters today following the attack. But transport services were not affected and school and college examinations were conducted as scheduled.

A strong police presence was maintained in the area with State Reserve Police platoons stationed at various points. No untoward incident was reported, police said.

Doctors attending on Vaidya at the Hinduja hospital described his condition as "serious but stable". The Shiv Sena politician was scheduled to undergo a major surgery this afternoon.

This was the second shootout in Bombay after the state government promulgated an ordinance to deal with organised crime.

On Monday, March 1, three persons were killed and three others injured when some men, believed to be from Chhota Rajan's gang, fired indiscriminately at Bandra in north-west Bombay.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report