Police official suspended in lathicharge case

Mumbai, May 15: Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy has suspended Madhukar Sankhe, Senior Police Inspector of Malabar Hill police station in connection with the lathicharge on medical students.

This was informed by Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil to reporters at Mantralaya here today.

Earlier, a delegation of medical professionals like Dr Vijaya Patil, Dr Umesh Oza, Dr Lalit Kapoor, Dr Sunita Kshirsagar, Dr Suhas Pingale, Dr Ashok Punjabi called on Mr Patil to put forth their stand against the police action on medical students last Saturday.

Mr Patil said Sankhe had not given correct information about the events unfolding outside Raj Bhavan and hence Commissioner A N Roy in his initial comments had stated that there was no ''lathicharge''.

He said since he became Home Minister, he had withdrawn clauses in cases filed in the students' agitation which required them to be present before the courts. ''I am not for jeopardising their careers'', he added.

Mr Patil said Raj Bhavan was a ''prohibited area'' and the students should not have assembled there to stage a protest. Dr Kshirsagar, President of Indian Medical Association Mumbai told the Deputy Chief Minister that the students were staging a peaceful protest and were not marching towards Raj Bhavan to gain forcible entry as told by the police.

''We wanted somebody to hear out our grievances on the reservation issue'', she added.

Mr Patil termed the students' protest outside Raj Bhavan and the subsequent lathicharge as ''unfortunate''.

Mr Patil also told the delegation that a suo motto inquiry had been ordered into the lathi charge and a report would be submitted in 15 days.

Responding to questions from mediapersons, Mr Patil said he had handed over the probe into the blasts at Nanded and Parbhani in Marathwada region to the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS). Asked about reports that the some terrorists arrested last week had stayed in MLA hostel in Mumbai, Mr Patil said it was not appropriate to comment at this stage, ''Facts will come out in the inquiry'', he added.

Mr Patil said it was ''unfair'' to term the recovery of massive cache of deadly weapons in different parts of the state as ''intelligence failure''.

''On the other hand, based on tip offs, the ATS rightly fulfilled its responsibility to hunt down the terrorists involved and arrested them. How can you call this an intelligence failure'', he asked.

Meanwhile, state BJP president Nitin Gadkari has said that the police action on agitating students and the subsequent attempts by police commissioner to play down the incident proves that law and order situation in the state was extremely bad. He demanded a high level inquiry into the incident.

UNI

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