Bhimrao Sonawane (left, in blue shirt) seen in a CCTV footage grab.Nearly 30 years after a “custodial death” was allegedly covered up by the Mumbai Police, a retired DCP has been caught on camera giving intricate details about how he passed it off as an incident where the person concerned died after jumping from the first floor of his house.
The video clip in question was recently handed over to the Mumbai Police by a businessman, Rajendra Thakkar, in whose office retired DCP Bhimrao Sonawane is seen making these revelations. Thakkar, a relative of Sonawane, is locked in a dispute with him.
The case has been handed over to the Worli police station, under whose jurisdiction the alleged death took place in 1990. While it has called Thakkar for questioning, he has, meanwhile, filed a writ petition seeking an FIR against Sonawane before the Bombay High Court.
Sonawane, who was an inspector at the Worli police station when the alleged incident took place, claimed that he was making up a story and it was an attempt to trap him.
The clip that has been extracted from the CCTV footage of Thakkar’s Malad office purportedly shows the complainant, along with Sonawane and two others, seated in his office on October 15, 2018.
In the video, a man purported to be Sonawane is seen talking about what happened at the Worli police station after the deceased, Rattu Gosavi, was arrested on May 1, 1990. “Rattu Gosavi was from Worli… kicked him in the testicles… we wanted to catch him for quite a while… there were 27 cases against him,” he is seen saying. “Whenever I arrested an accused, I would beat him up like a dog… would fracture his bones before taking him to the police station.”
Sonawane then talks about the ACP informing him some time later that Gosavi had died. “They dragged the body of Gosavi… two held his hands… two legs… my ACP asked me to check his eyes… he was dead… he was alive just an hour back.. how did he die?”
Sonawane is seen explaining how they tried to get Gosavi admitted to a hospital. He also claimed that Gosavi died at the hospital and not at the police station. “We have to show he died in the hospital and not in police custody or the responsibility will fall on us,” he is heard saying.
Sonawane then talks about how a crowd of nearly 500 people had gathered outside the police station. He is seen saying how he got a van parked right outside the police station. “I trained two constables to hold Gosavi’s body from both sides and move his legs in such a way that it should appear that he was walking to the van. To complete the impression, they also handcuffed the body. I told the crowd that Gosavi had injured himself and that he was being taken to the hospital,” Sonawane is seen saying.
At KEM hospital, however, Sonawane says a doctor refused to admit Gosavi in the ICU. “No, he’s dead. I won’t admit him in ICU. No way,” Sonawane recalls the doctor as saying. He then claims that through some contacts with the police surgeon, they managed to get Gosavi admitted in JJ hospital.
Sonawane then says that he asked one of his officers to take a revolver from his cupboard and prepare an FIR that would state that this revolver was with Gosavi and he had had jumped from the first floor of his chawl. “Mention that he tried firing on the constable and jumped… there was a stone there, the stone hurt his private parts… mention something like that,” Sonawane is heard saying while explaining how he dressed up crime records.
Sonawane then says how he took the diaries — mentioning lock-up entry — to Rahat Palace hotel, where he called other officers. “Nobody should go home,” he told them. “…We took the second diary and rewrote it completely. The senior then stamped on it. It took us three days to do this. Later, when people came to know that Gosavi passed away, a crowd of 2,000 people gathered at the police station. They said that the police have murdered him and were not willing to take the body,” Sonawane says.
Thakkar, who has four cases registered against him, had got an FIR lodged with Malad police against Sonawane’s daughter, who is married to Thakkar’s brother-in-law, alleging that they had cheated him of money. The alleged taped conversation took place when Sonawane went to Thakkar’s office to resolve the issue.
On July 4, Thakkar provided the CCTV footage of the purported conversation to the Malad police seeking action. Since the incident in question had allegedly taken place in Worli, the case was handed over to Worli police.
Earlier this week, Thakkar received a letter from the Worli police stating that the matter is being investigated by Inspector M U Patel. He was also asked to come to the police station within three days of receiving the letter to record his statement.
When contacted, Sonawane said, “Whatever I am seen saying in the video is just a story I was making up to give a certain impression. This is an attempt to trap me.”
When told that the date, the name of the deceased and the incident tallied with what he is seen saying, he said: “Yes, it is true I was an inspector with Worli police and Gosavi had died. However, he died while jumping off the first floor at his chawl and was declared brought dead before admission by the hospital. The version of events that I am seen narrating in the video is not true.”
Thakkar told The Indian Express, “In addition to what appears to be his involvement in custodial killing cover up, he has also cheated and extorted money from me and registered four false cases against me.”
While Inspector Patel refused to comment, Zonal Deputy Commissioner Abhinash Kumar said, “While a probe is being conducted, the video itself will not be enough to prove the allegations. We will also need corroborative evidence to match what the person is saying in the video. We are looking into the matter.”
A senior IPS officer said that it will be difficult to prove the charges against Sonawane, as it could also be a case of bragging to intimidate the other person.
Meanwhile, Gosavi’s family members are still coming to terms with the new evidence. Shashikant Davli, Gosavi’s brother-in-law, said: “So many years have gone by. I know that Gosavi had several cases against him. I will cooperate with the police provided I don’t have to spend too much time on it. I am a working person and there is only so much running around that I can do.” Dalvi added that he remembers the day when Gosavi was picked up by the police from his Worli residence and was “beaten like an animal” before being taken to the police station.
Advocate Tanveer Nizam, who is representing Thakkar in HC, said: “My client has significant data/evidence to establish complicity and conspiracy in covering up the custodial death, a heinous crime, against retired DCP Bhimrao Sonawane and other corrupt police officers. As per law, an FIR has to be registered whenever a cognisable offence is revealed. The video should be enough to register an FIR against the ACP.”
