PUNE: A 22-year-old man suffered bullet injury on Thursday morning after a
police constable’s service revolver went off accidentally when he bent to tie his shoe lace on the steps in front of a temple at
Super Indiranagar in Bibvewadi.
The bullet pierced victim Ganesh Kamble’s right thigh joint below the abdomen before hitting the iron sheet of a door of the temple’s sanctum sanctorum. He was rushed to a nearby hospital. He is out of danger.
The sudden firing caused a flutter as people saw Kamble bleeding on the temple’s steps, where he was seated a little behind to the left of constable,
Ashok Vilas Dhaware (25). The Bibvewadi police recovered an empty cartridge from the spot and impounded the constable’s service revolver and the remaining cartridges for a probe.
The 0.9mm calibre service revolver had no safety lock feature meant to prevent accidental firing. The revolver is among the older firearms still used by the police. Unlike the firearms with safety locks, the revolver possessed by Dhaware was not supposed to be carried loaded. Dhaware, who joined the state police in 2014, was carrying the revolver in a leather holster tied to his belt.
Senior inspector
Balasaheb Kopnar of the Bibvewadi police said, “Prima facie, it appears to be a case of negligence on the part of the constable.” The police have booked Dhaware for offences punishable under sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of IPC following a complaint lodged by the victim’s brother, Akash.
Kopnar said, “Dhaware is attached to the
Shivajinagar police headquarters and was posted on a personal security duty for an activist-author of Shivajinagar since March 19. Dhaware and Kamble are childhood friends and relatives. They met around 11.40am when the constable went to offer prayers at the temple in a lane behind VIT College. Dhaware was on the way to report to duty.”
Kopnar said, “Dhaware had removed his shoes at the steps before entering the temple. When he came out, he found Kamble sitting on the steps. Dhaware sat next to him and bent for tying his shoe lace when the revolver went off accidentally,” he said.
