A Bengaluru police constable was suspended for negligence after a photo emerged of a habitual offender wearing his uniform to show off his wife while he was in police custody.
According to the police, Constable Sonare H R, attached to the Govindapura police station, was suspended for letting Saleem Sheikh alias Bombay Saleem, who faces more than 50 theft cases, wear his uniform.
The case came to the fore when the Indiranagar police were investigating a theft case which was reported on June 23 in their division. When the police checked CCTV footage and other details, they found out that Saleem was involved with a gang.
A police officer said, “As Saleem was a habitual offender, we have his photo, fingerprints, and other details.”
After the Bengaluru police found out through technical analysis that he was near Pune, Devaraja D, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Wast), said they passed the information to their counterparts in the Maharashtra city, and a team from Bengaluru went to bring him back.
This time, he had stolen expensive ornaments, sarees, and other valuables in Bengaluru.
“The Indiranagar police, while investigating the case, were analysing the mobile phone of Saleem and found a screenshot of a WhatsApp video call in which Saleem was seen wearing a uniform. Upon questioning, he said the woman seen in the photo was his wife,” said Devaraja.
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“We questioned him later and found that Saleem was previously arrested by the Govindapura police last year in a similar theft case. To recover the valuables, the police had taken him outside Bengaluru, and stayed in a hotel. Saleem used Sonare’s uniform, and called his wife. It amounts to negligence, and Sonare has been suspended,” Devaraja said.
A police officer said Sonare and another police constable locked Saleem in their hotel room to go shopping. “During this time, Saleem just wanted to show off before his wife, wore Sonare’s uniform which was in the room,” the officer added.