Facing criticism over his remark that “police cannot be present at every crime location”, Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale on Monday clarified that he specifically said that “police cannot be present at every spot, but it can reach every spot”.
“Some people took my statement in wrong context. What I said was that police cannot be present at every spot, police can reach every spot, and we very well reached the spot within 10 minutes. But it is impossible for policemen to be present at every spot. So I am maintaining my statement and it is a factual statement,” said Nagrale while addressing the media.
The clarification came after Nagrale, when questioned about the absence of police in Sakinaka area where a 34-year-woman was brutally raped and murdered, purportedly said that police cannot be present at every crime location. The NCW had objected to the remark, calling it “extremely unfortunate”.
Nagrale, giving details of the investigation in the case, said the confession of the revealed that they both knew each other, and the crime took place following an argument over something demanded by the victim.
“As per confession, accused & victim knew each other. Victim was demanding something from accused. They later argued. We’re anticipating, the main reason he attacked her was a bit of argument that they had. He was under the influence of some substances,” said Nagrale.
“As per Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) we’ve not found out any offence that is registered against accused so far in Maharashtra. We’re trying to find out if he has any criminal record in Uttar Pradesh,” he added.
The 34-year-old woman was raped and brutalised with a rod by a man inside a stationary tempo in suburban Sakinaka in the wee hours of Friday. She died at a hospital during treatment in the early hours of Saturday, police earlier said. The crime bore similarity to the 2012 `Nirbhaya’ gang-rape case of Delhi. The 45-year-old suspect, arrested within a few hours of the incident, was later charged with murder.