A team of anti-narcotics cell had gone to arrest a ganja smuggler from Yavatmal district; despite resistance from the villagers, the cops stood their ground and returned only after arresting the accused
A group of officers from the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) had a harrowing experience in Mahagaon taluka, Phoolsanghi village in Yavatmal district, where they had gone to pick up an absconding ganja smuggler. The accused, Kader Khan Yusuf Khan Pathan (29), had been arrested in 2009 for possessing 19 kg of ganja. He was released on bail and had been on the run since.
ADVERTISEMENT
Acting on a tip-off, the ANC team had apprehended Pathan and was escorting him in an auto rickshaw when a group of villagers, armed with choppers and knives surrounded the police team and refused to let them arrest the latter. The cops, who were in civilian clothes, refused to back down and managed to break free from the crowd and took Pathan to a nearby police station. From there Pathan was produced in a local court and the ANC team acquired a transit remand and escorted him to Mumbai on April 7.
Kishor Jadhav, deputy commissioner of police of the ANC said, “The cops were gheraoed because they were in civilian clothes and not in uniform. Pathan has been remanded in judicial custody and claims he cannot afford a lawyer. He was hiding in Yavatmal and cannot walk properly owing to the iron rods in his legs.”
According to the police, assistant sub-inspector Shyamrao Sonvale, constables Vinod Jadhav, Dilip Patole, Dinesh Bhabale and Amit Shinde, from the ANC had gone to arrest Pathan based on a tip-off from Pathan’s former girlfriend. Pathan was a popular figure in the village as he had helped a number of people financially.u00a0
Colourful past
Pathan, a resident of Amrapali Chawl, Bhim Nagar, Ghatkopar (West) was absconding since his release on bail in 2009. In 2011, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him. Sources said Pathan had an affair with a married woman. In 2011, the woman’s husband got to know and brutally attacked him. In the incident, Pathan injured his private parts and fractured both legs. He had to have iron rods inserted in his legs. He later left Mumbai and took refuge in Yavatmal district.