Mumbai Police have ordered an investigation and suspended a policeman after a video showing him threatening to implicate detained student protesters in a fake drug trafficking case went viral on social media, a Maharashtra Home Ministry official said on Thursday.
“Mumbai Police has ordered an investigation into the matter and action will be taken after verifying the facts,” the official said. Constable Pawan Sanjal has been removed from his post pending investigation.
In the video, Sanjal, a Mumbai Police driver, is seen warning students that he will plant drug packets in their pockets. One of the detained students recorded the video in the police car after they were arrested from the protest site and uploaded it to social media.
Opposition parties accused the police of intimidating protesting students in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra over examination violations and demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal led a delegation that met Maharashtra Police Chief Sadanand Det and Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti and demanded strict action against Sanjal. He sought a broader investigation. “The investigation should ascertain whether anyone was involved in similar fabricated drug cases in the past. The police should also investigate how these individuals accessed narcotic substances instead of taking action against drug dealers.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working president Sharadchandra Pawar Supriya Sule have demanded strict action. “It is absolutely terrifying that the country’s young generation, who are fighting for their rights, are being criminalized and threatening to ruin their lives and careers by planting drugs in their pockets,” Sule said in a post on X.
