Three employees from the Pune City Police force were dismissed from service for stopping a car under the guise of being police employess and stealing 4.5 million rupees of Hawala money in Dive village on the Nashik-Mumbai highway. The action was taken by Deputy Police Commissioner Pravinkumar Patil.
The dismissed employess are Police Constables Ganesh Maruti Kamble, Ganesh Balasaheb Shinde, and Dilip Maruti Pilane. This incident occurred on March 8, 2022, while they were appointed at the Dattawadi Police Station, near Dive village close to Bhiwandi. A criminal case was registered against them at the Narpoli Police Station, followed by their suspension and an internal investigation, which found them guilty leading to their dismissal.
All three were appointed at the same police station and had familial relations. Dilip Pilane, along with the other two employess and Babubhai Solanki, had gone to Dive for a religious event related to Pilane’s sister. During this time, Ganesh Kamble learned from Babubhai Solanki about the Hawala money being transported from Aurangabad through Nashik to Thane. In collaboration with Ganesh Shinde and Dilip Pilane, they stopped Ram Lal Parmar’s car near Dive village, showing the authority of police employess, and after creating fear of inspection, they stole 4.5 million rupees from the car and forced them to leave the scene.
While a robbery case was filed, Ganesh Kamble managed to deceive the inspectors by falsely claiming illness to avoid arrest and obtained a sick pass. On his weekly off, without permission, he committed this serious crime in Bhiwandi. Similarly, Ganesh Shinde falsely claimed he hadn’t received his weekly offs during training to justify his absence and committed the crime. Dilip Pilane was also proven during the internal investigation to have taken alternative weekly offs to commit the crime in Bhiwandi. Their actions tarnished the image of the police in society, leading to their dismissal from service.