MUMBAI: Four police personnel were suspended after a CCTV footage showing them planting drugs on a man during a raid went viral in Kalina, Santacruz East around 5.50 pm on August 30.
The video shows two officers searching a man while two others stand by overseeing the operation. Moments later, one of them is seen to slip something into the suspect’s pocket. The four officers then take him into custody for the possession of 20 grams of mephedrone.
The suspended personnel include a police sub-inspector and three constables. The police personnel were attached to the Anti-Terror Cell of the Khar police station. They raided an open plot land in the Kalina area of the city on Friday evening and detained the victim, Daniel.
Daniel, speaking to local news channel, said that the policemen had earlier threatened to frame him in a Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case. However, upon realizing that the act was caught on camera and the video was widely being circulated, the officers let him go.
An associate of Daniel alleged, while speaking to a news channel, that he was targeted at the behest of a builder over a dispute regarding the plot where the incident took place.
DCP Raj Tilak Roshan told PTI that disciplinary action was initiated against the four cops for not following set procedure and for suspected actions as seen in the video, and they were suspended pending inquiry.
"They reached the spot after getting information about drugs, but everything (they did) is seen in the CCTV," he added.
(With inputs from PTI)