Mumbai: As Bhandup turns crime hub, senior cop sacked

With eight murders in seven months 10 attempt to murder cases and hundreds of incidents of assault gangland has taken over Bhandup Fed up with Bhandup polices inefficiency the top brass shunted out Senior Police Inspector Shrinivas Panhale to the Local Arms division on Tuesday Ramesh Khade has been posted as the new senior Inspector of the police stationA week ago Bhandup was rocked by the brutal murder of 17yearold Sushil Verma The Std XII student was killed by a group of teens right outside his college in broad daylight on July 26 While the cops arrested three suspects the murder sparked a debate about inefficient policingSenior Police Inspector Shrinivas PanhaleWe consistently told the cops about the situation turning from bad to worst in Bhandup but they didnt pay any attention This resulted in the murder of a 17yearold which could have avoided by increasing patrolling said Ramesh Khanvilkar Director of RK BEd College Bhandup Due to the polices lethargy addiction among youngsters in on the rise he addedA public meeting was organised on August 2 to discuss the rising crime Politicians across parties urged the police to take action against Matka rackets active in Bhandup Residents urged that rigorous policing is key to reducing the crime rate Sanjay Dina Patil exMP from the NCP said Bhandup is becoming a den for drug peddlers the police must act to prevent any future incidentsMore money and bhaisThe new senior PI now faces the challenge of cleaning up crime in the growing suburb There are 15 lakh residents in this jurisdiction a majority of whom live in illegal hutments Two year ago the police had started a special drive against gangsters and found three gunny bags of swords in the forest on the hillsideA policeman who had earlier served as a senior police at the Bhandup police station said In Bhandup there is a lot of SRA work which has brought money to the area This has become a catalyst for youngsters to turn gangsters Increasing hutments on the hills makes it more difficult for cops to enter as well In such a situation the police have to physically start patrolling the area which will curb crime to some extent and reduce the flow of narcotics mdash mainly ganja mdash in the pipeline area the officer addedSince last yearhellipShrinivas Panhale had taken charge of the Bhandup police station on May 20 2017 but couldnt manage to curb crime or drug flow According to police statistics last year till August not a single murder had been reported while three cases of attempt to murder were filed But this year eight murders and 10 attempts to murder have been registered in the same periodMurder centralJuly 26 Sushil Verma was killed by teen over an affair with a girlMay 3 Birbal Gupta killed his wife Neha in front of their kids after an altercation over attending a weddingApril 24 Ganesh Padekar 45 murdered a 30yearold who had thrown garbage on himMarch 25 Naresh Shetty 27 out on bail was murdered over a love affairMarch 24 A 17yearold stabbed Ramji Rajbhar 27 when he objected to the minor blowing cigarette smoke on himMarch 18 A vegetable vendor and his two sons were killed after a fight or where to set up their stallAlso Read Sacked cop posed as policeman to extort money from couples at AksaCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates