Cop forgets rifle in train, commuter returns it

MUMBAI: Cops on board late-night local trains are a regular feature. Not a .303 rifle, lying around. But it was what commuters found in a Churchgate-bound local on Tuesday night, shortly after it left Dadar. And in an 11/7-scarred city, which looks askance at every forgotten tiffin or bag, an alert commuter immediately brought it to a GRP constable's notice.
Police said it was apparently a sudden urge to speak to his ailing mother that led GRP head constable Ashok Sonawane of the Mumbai Central railway police station, to get down at Dadar around 11 pm, leaving his rifle behind, and borrow a mobile for a minute from colleagues on the platform. The cop, who didn't own a mobile, assumed the train would halt for more than a minute there. Police said Sonawane was on train-patrolling duty in the ladies' first class, which is open to the general public after 11 pm. "He confessed he had left the rifle unattended in the train at Dadar to make an emergency call to his mother,'' said senior police inspector Bharatkumar Rane.
"Prima facie it seems the constable was drunk as he was smelling of alcohol. He has undergone a medical examination and reports are awaited. We will conduct a thorough enquiry and take strict action against him," said Tukaram Chavan, comissioner, GRP.
An alert commuter, Kallu Rawat, spotted the rifle after the train left Dadar. "A passenger informed constable Umesh Kadam, in the other compartment, of the rifle. Kadam informed police at Charni road station on his walkie talkie. The rifle was collected by the Charni road railway police at 11.10 pm,'' said Rane. The rifle did not have any live rounds, he added.
It was the registration number on the rifle that helped trace it to Sonawane.