A Pune city police constable has been arrested in Telangana after police allegedly found 12 kg of cannabis in his bag, while a Pimpri-Chinchwad police officer died of a heart attack during a chase linked to an anti-narcotics operation in Pune. The two incidents, reported by Lokmat, have brought sharply different aspects of policing and drug enforcement into focus across the Pune region.
Nitin Gyanu Shinde, who was working with the Vishrambaug traffic division of Pune city police, was arrested after travelling from Odisha through Telangana with the cannabis, according to the report. Police in Telangana’s Warangal district reportedly received information about a suspicious person waiting at a bus stop and searched Shinde’s bag. The search allegedly led to the recovery of 12 kg of cannabis.
The questioning that followed established that Shinde was a police constable in Pune, the report said. Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar subsequently suspended him. The police department has also begun preparations to dismiss him permanently from service, according to the report.
The arrest comes as a separate anti-narcotics operation in Pimpri-Chinchwad ended with the death of police constable Javed Bagsiraj. Bagsiraj, about 40, was attached to the anti-narcotics unit of the Pimpri-Chinchwad crime branch. On Sunday night, October 25, the unit received information that two suspects would arrive in the Sant Tukaram Nagar area to sell MD, or mephedrone.
Police reportedly laid a trap and detained one suspect, while the second suspect fled. Bagsiraj chased the fleeing man but suffered a severe heart attack while running and collapsed. His colleagues took him to Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital, where he suffered another attack during treatment and died, the report said.
Bagsiraj had joined the police force in 2010 and had served at the Hadapsar, Mundhwa and Pimpri police stations before being posted to the anti-narcotics unit. He is survived by his parents, brother, wife, a 12-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son. His funeral was held at a cemetery in Pune’s Kasba Peth on Monday.
The two cases involve different forms of institutional risk. The Pimpri-Chinchwad incident shows the physical danger faced by officers during street-level drug enforcement, while the arrest in Warangal has raised questions about criminal activity allegedly involving a serving police employee. The supplied report does not provide details of the charges filed against Shinde, the investigation’s next procedural steps or whether other people are suspected in the cannabis case.
The immediate official action reported in the case is Shinde’s suspension and the proposed process for his permanent dismissal. Further details of the investigation and the legal proceedings are expected from the police authorities handling the case.
