Cop held for stealing seized weapons kept as material evidence in court store room
So far, the Thane police have found a country-made gun and an imported pistol missing; suspect Constable Sachin Ingle has sold them for a song.
The Thane police have arrested a constable from the Shantinagar police station for allegedly stealing seized weapons kept in the Bhiwandi court’s store room as evidence and selling them for a song.
The police said constable Sachin Ingle from the local police station was assigned to the court room duty four months ago, where he was tasked with guarding the store room where weapons and other material evidences related to ongoing hearings are sealed and kept.
The investigating officer who was at the receiving end of the court’s ire decided to conduct a thorough check of all the articles he had submitted. He found that five live cartridges, a countrymade revolver and a foreign pistol submitted in connection with a case being heard were missing.
The police prepared a list of people with access to the room and started calling them in for their statements. Most of them did not have access inside the store room. This is when they found out that Ingle, who was the main man guarding the court room, had not reported to duty for the last 10 days.
The officer realised that the weapons were there before that period. Based on suspicion, the police called Ingle back to duty from his leave without saying he was a suspect. Though he denied stealing the weapons, the police have booked him on the basis that he was the only person with access to the storeroom.
Further, policemen used to give the evidence material to Ingle and he used to collect and deposit them inside the store. They have also established that he was the only person with the keys to the store room. The Shantinagar police also suspect that he had sold the weapons rather than steal them to erase evidence. The court has given the police two days’ custody of Ingle for further investigation.
Investigating officer A.V Kadam told Mirror: “Ingle has been arrested and remanded to police custody for two days. We will know more during further investigation.”
Sources said the police will now match all evidence in the store room to the inventory to find out how many other articles have gone missing. They have also asked for CCTV footage to gather more evidence against Ingle.
The Thane police have arrested a constable from the Shantinagar police station for allegedly stealing seized weapons kept in the Bhiwandi court’s store room as evidence and selling them for a song.
The police said constable Sachin Ingle from the local police station was assigned to the court room duty four months ago, where he was tasked with guarding the store room where weapons and other material evidences related to ongoing hearings are sealed and kept.
Last week, the police were shocked to notice that some of the evidence had disappeared from the store. Officers could not find items they had submitted as evidence when their cases came up for hearing, drawing the court’s ire towards them. The police’s first suspicion was that someone was doing this with the aim of tampering with evidence.
The investigating officer who was at the receiving end of the court’s ire decided to conduct a thorough check of all the articles he had submitted. He found that five live cartridges, a countrymade revolver and a foreign pistol submitted in connection with a case being heard were missing.
The police prepared a list of people with access to the room and started calling them in for their statements. Most of them did not have access inside the store room. This is when they found out that Ingle, who was the main man guarding the court room, had not reported to duty for the last 10 days.
The officer realised that the weapons were there before that period. Based on suspicion, the police called Ingle back to duty from his leave without saying he was a suspect. Though he denied stealing the weapons, the police have booked him on the basis that he was the only person with access to the storeroom.
Further, policemen used to give the evidence material to Ingle and he used to collect and deposit them inside the store. They have also established that he was the only person with the keys to the store room. The Shantinagar police also suspect that he had sold the weapons rather than steal them to erase evidence. The court has given the police two days’ custody of Ingle for further investigation.
Investigating officer A.V Kadam told Mirror: “Ingle has been arrested and remanded to police custody for two days. We will know more during further investigation.”
Sources said the police will now match all evidence in the store room to the inventory to find out how many other articles have gone missing. They have also asked for CCTV footage to gather more evidence against Ingle.
