Mumbai crime: On-duty constable beaten to death by homeless druggie

A 35yearold homeless druggie and alcoholic known to be involved in petty thefts allegedly beat an onduty constable to death in the wee hours of yesterdayA herorsquos farewell Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria and other senior officials at the funeral of constable Ajay Gawand in Mulund yesterdayThe constable had gone to investigate after receiving information that the homeless man had broken into a threestorey building in Dongri and was holedup on its terrace The constable was hit repeatedly on the head with a wooden plank when he tried to climb onto the terraceAjay GawandAccording to the Dongri Police Constable Ajay Prabhakar Gawand 43 and three other policemen were patrolling the area around 2 am yesterday when they received complaints of Santosh Bajirao Salvi 35 having broken into Bharat Petroleum building on P DrsquoMello Road in DongriThe accused Santosh Bajirao SalviThe buildingrsquos security guard and a few other people had spotted Salvi and raised an alarm following which he had begun throwing stones at them from the terraceGawand and the other policemen reached the spot and tried to go up to the terrace using the stairs but found that Salvi had locked the door leading to the terrace from the stairwell Gawand then tried to climb up to the terrace from the balcony of the floor below but nearly lost his balance Taking advantage of this Salvi began hitting Gawand brutally with a wooden plankGawand was hit hard at least 45 times on the back of his head and he was taken to JJ Hospital by a constable who was with him and a local resident both of whom were trying to climb up to the terrace behind him According to police officials he died on the way to the hospital and was declared dead around 330 amSole breadwinnerGawand who had studied up to Std X had joined the police force in 1993 on the basis of his accomplishments in sports see box He got married in 2005 and is survived by his wife mdash a housewife mdash and 8yearold son Despite having two elder brothers he was the sole breadwinner of the household The family used to live in Mulund East but Gawand his wife and his son had recently shifted to Jui Nagar in Navi Mumbai His badge number was 32211Speaking to midday Gawandrsquos elder brother Narendra Dawand said ldquoI am shocked that my brother who a was body builder and was physically very strong was beaten to death and is no more He was the sole breadwinner of the house in terms of steady income because I have a business and I never get money on time His death is a huge loss for our familyrdquoBlaming the government for not equipping constables with the right kind of weapons Narendra said ldquoOur government is responsible for this In our country a constable who serves the people gets only a lathi If Ajay had a proper weapon with him he wouldnrsquot have lost his wife I donrsquot think a lathi is effective at all We have been promised that Ajayrsquos wife will be given a job very soon and we will be helped with some money for the education of Ajayrsquos son Harsh who is in Std III and we are hopeful that the promises will be kept Chief Minister Devendra Fadnivis will also be visiting our house on Monday rdquoCremationAfter the postmortem at JJ Hospital Gawandrsquos body was taken to Nani Pada in Mulund and cremated near his old house Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria DCP Zone I Ravindra Shisve and other senior officials were present After the cremation the police announced that Gawandrsquos wife will be given a job and she can join as early as Tuesday itself if she wants to The Mumbai Police will also contribute money to Gawandrsquos family especially for his sonrsquos educationHistorysheeterPolice officials said that Salve is a druggie and an alcoholic and had probably come to Mumbai from Pune or Solapur He was homeless and they suspect that he used to carry out petty thefts to make a living He was arrested produced in court and remanded in police custodySpeaking to midday DCP Zone I Ravindra Shisve said ldquoThe main intention of the accused in entering the building was theft We have presented him in sand got police custody till November 24 He had said his name is Santosh Bajirao Salvi but we are confirming that We also suspect that he is a historysheeter not from Mumbai maybe but from Pune or SolapurrdquoldquoPolice Commissioner Rakesh Maria asked me to announce during the cremation that Ajayrsquos family will be getting his salary every month which will be given as if Ajay is on duty After his retirement period his family will be given pension and we are going to place his wife in Mumbai Police as soon as she applies Rakesh sir is going to bear the expense of the studies of Ajayrsquos son till graduation Even the Mumbai Police will contribute towards his studiesrdquo he added