Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A police sub-inspector was suspended and arrested on Tuesday in connection with the death of Ellora-based zilla parishad teacher Suresh Borse (54). A constable attached to the Vaijapur police station has also been suspended pending a departmental inquiry in the case.
Borse, a teacher at the ZP Central Primary School in Ellora and a district office bearer of a teachers’ association, died last Thursday following an alleged assault during a late-night operation carried out by a police team with persons described by local residents as members of the sand mafia.
“We have arrested sub-inspector Eknath Nagargoje after we found some crucial pieces of evidence against him. Twenty statements including that of victim’s family members have been recorded over the past two days,” Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (rural) superintendent of police Prakash Jadhav told TOI. A case has been registered under BNS sections 106 (1) for causing death negligence and section 131 for assault or criminal force with grave provocation.
The sub-inspector and the constable were allegedly part of a police team that had gone to Ellora on the night of June 10 in search of an accused. According to a complaint filed by Borse’s wife, Anita, her husband had stepped out late at night to buy ice cream for visiting relatives and medicine for himself when he was allegedly assaulted by members of the raiding party. The family has claimed that the assault caused his death.
After the incident and subsequent protests by residents, teachers and politicians, the Khuldabad police had registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against seven accused. The police then arrested Ravindra Aware, Omkar Chaudhary, Balu Damale and Sopan Chothe, while a 17-year-old boy was detained and sent to a juvenile home on the orders of the child welfare committee.
Amid all this, Borse’s family demanded that the police personnel allegedly involved in the assault be named as accused in the FIR.
The police said the departmental inquiry against the police personnel was under way, while the criminal investigation into Borse’s death is being conducted separately by the Khuldabad police. The findings of the inquiry, along with forensic and postmortem reports, are expected to determine further action against the policemen and others named in the case, the police added.
