A video of Panvel City police thrashing a youth in the middle of the road, which went viral, revealed another side of the story on being probed.
According to the police, the person being beaten up, identified as Sameer Subhash Patil (27) along with his two minor friends, were being arrested after they attacked a family with an iron rod and were running away from the spot when the police reached. The trio were chased for around 2km and then arrested by the police during which the accused hurled abuses at the police and tried to push them away. In response, the police thrashed them. After the video went viral, Panvel City police released the CCTV footage as their defence where the family is seen getting thrashed by the trio.
The incident occurred on Monday evening when Dinesh Dattatrey Naik, his wife Disha and their nine-year-old daughter Nitisha from Mangaon in Raigad district, came to Vijay Sales in Panvel for shopping. When Mr. Naik’s driver Sonu Bhosale was parking their car, the two minors who came in another car from behind rammed their car following which they started arguing with Mr. Naik and demanded money.
“Mr Naik refused to pay and said they could file a case if they wished to, and left with his family for shopping,” Senior Police Inspector Sunil Bajare from Panvel City Police Station said.
Meanwhile, the minors called their friend Patil, who works as office boy in Panacea Hospital in Panvel. When the family came out from the shop, the trio started thrashing Mr. Naik and also slapped his wife and pushed their daughter onto the footpath causing her minor injuries. One among the two minor accused then took out an iron rod from his car and hit Mr. Naik on his head. He also used a paver block from the footpath to hit Mr. Naik on the head.
Someone from the crowd informed the police and when the team reached the spot, the accused fled, but were nabbed after a chase. “The intention of the accused was to get some money from Mr. Naik in the name of the damage caused to their car while it was the accused who had rammed on to the victim’s car,” Assistant Police Inspector Swapnil Ijjapawar from Panvel City Police Station said.
Both the minors had appeared for their Class XII exams and are awaiting results and are residents of Adai village in Panvel. “The accused Patil’s father Subhash Patil has a history of criminal cases of extortion against him,” Mr. Bajare said. Asked if any action would be taken against the police for thrashing the accused in the middle of the road, a senior Navi Mumbai officer said, “The accused was a local goon and the police action was necessitated by circumstances. We have not thought of taking any action against them.”
The trio were arrested under Sections 324, 323, 341, 504, 506, 427 and 34 of the IPC and Section 184 of the Motor Vehicle Act. The accused were produced before the court on Tuesday, which granted Patil and one minor bail while the minor who had attacked with rod has been sent to juvenile home.
