Nagpur: Ganesh mandal workers allege police beat them, took cash and phones

As Ganesh festival preparations continue across the state, a serious allegation of excessive police action has surfaced from a mandal in the Matoshri Nagar area of Nagpur, where workers were building a display late into the night.

On the night of September 8, five workers of the Shree Ganesh Mitra Utsav Mandal were working on the display until around 11:15 pm after dinner. Once the work was done, the five were taking a walk in the area when three policemen arrived on two motorcycles. The police asked why they were out so late, and without giving them a chance to answer, accused them of returning from gambling and beat all five workers badly on the road itself. According to the victim's allegation, the police also took 8,600 rupees from his pocket at the time. The three policemen then put all five on their bikes and took them to MIDC police station.

According to the victims, they were beaten again after reaching the police station. Police allegedly told them to either confess to gambling or arrange 50,000 rupees to secure their release. The beating continued from midnight until 3:30 am. The victims said that after a friend was called to send another 5,000 rupees, which was given to the police, all five were released at 3:30 am.

However, even after releasing them in the early hours of September 9, police kept the victims' mobile phones and purses with themselves. The next day, when the young men went to the police station to ask for their phones and purses back, the policemen who had beaten them allegedly chased them away and demanded more money. The five victims eventually filed a written complaint with the police commissioner's office, after which the matter involving three police personnel from MIDC police station reached senior officers. Following the intervention of senior police officers, the victims got back their mobile phones, purses and the 8,600 rupees taken from the spot. However, no action has been taken against the accused policemen so far.

The victims are now asking whether it was wrong to work late at night for the Ganesh mandal in their own locality, and whether it is right for police to falsely accuse working young men of gambling, take them to the police station and beat them. When contacted, MIDC police station inspector Gokul Mahajan refused to comment further on the matter. Mahajan said action had been taken against the young men for gambling, but did not answer what action had been taken against the accused policemen. He said on the phone that the matter had now been settled and was not a big issue.