Police botched up probe by chasing wrong inspector

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Cops wasted several days in chasing the wrong L T Marg senior inspector for the rape.

Investigators who had the official mobile number of the senior inspector of L T Marg police station and were armed with only the information that “an L T Marg senior inspector” had raped the girl, first went after Borude’s predecessor as Arun Borude was still using a private number taken on someone else’s name. The officer, pestered by calls, finally had to report the harassment to a deputy commissioner. In all this time, the real culprit — Borude — got a whiff of what was happening and went into hiding.

Reliable sources said that the Powai police began the hunt for Borude after it messed up the investigation. “The Powai police got the number of L T Marg senior inspector. They found that the phone was lying with his wife at his official residence. The police swung into action and a team of around seven police personnel, including four women reached the ‘senior inspectors’ house. However, he was not there,” said a source, adding that the policemen there then took the officer’s new mobile number from his wife and found that the senior inspector was in Pune.

“A police team then informed its Pune counterparts to trace the senior inspector. However, his mobile phone was switched off. Later, the police team analyzed the call records and found one number which had made and received several call from the senior inspector’s number. The new number was found in Talegaon, near Pune,” said the source. The investigation further proved that the number belonged to a close friend of the senior inspector. He was detained and questioned, said the source.

The policemen were doing a “speedy and fair investigation” soon after Borude went into hiding.

Sources said that the man detained in Talegaon finally managed to speak to the senior inspector and requested him to do something. “The senior inspector then spoke to the cops but they were not ready to listen. He was insisting that he was not L T Marg senior inspector. He told the investigating team that he had been in-charge of the L T Marg police station but has been promoted now," said the source.


The Time of India, November 20, 2010