Mumbai: After a year, there has been no significant progress in the drug-planting incident in Kalina involving four police personnel. The incident occurred on August 30, 2024. However, the police registered an FIR against the four personnel only after more than three months, following directions from the Human Rights Commission. Apart from this, there has been no major development in the case.

The Vakola police have neither taken any action against the accused nor filed a chargesheet or properly recorded eyewitness statements. They have also not added additional NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) sections to the case, applying only bailable sections instead. As a result, the accused were granted anticipatory bail.

The victim’s lawyer, Advocate Akshay Bhole, stated, “There has been no progress in the case and no chargesheet has been filed. The police have not contacted us. The victim has been at home for a year, as no one is willing to offer him a job out of fear. The Human Rights Commission’s hearing date is scheduled for December.”

The incident dates back to August 30, 2024, when PSI Vishwanath Omble and three constables — Imran Shaikh, Sagar Kamble, and Yogendra Shinde (also known as Dabang Shinde) — in plain clothes from the Khar police station visited Shahbaz Khan’s livestock farm in Kalina, Santacruz East, where Dylan Estbeiro, 31, was working. They allegedly frisked Dylan and planted 20 grams of mephedrone in his pocket during a staged search, later accusing him of drug possession.

The entire incident was captured on CCTV, which was later reviewed and shared publicly by Shahbaz Khan. Following the release of the footage, Dylan was released by the Khar police. The video sparked public outrage, prompting then-Deputy Commissioner Raj Tilak Roushan to suspend all four police personnel on August 31. Dylan told FPJ, “It has been one year since the incident occurred, yet there has been no major development in the case.

The investigating officer has also been changed. The police came to my residence and told my father that I should visit the police station after Ganapati. My career is over, and I do not know when I will get a new job. The police have not added NDPS sections so far against the accused police personnel.”

Mumbai Maloni Police has claimed to have arrested five accused including ganja worth Rs 72 lakhs and a country-made pistol and live cartridges. In Maloni, the police had arrested Ashiq Hussain Khan with 1 kg 60 grams of ganja. He said that he buys this drug from Nashik. After that, Santosh More of Nashik was arrested. After that, a total of four accused were arrested in this case and a case was registered against them under the NDPS Act. A car was searched in Maloni Madh in which a country-made pistol and ganja were recovered. This operation was carried out by DCP Sandeep Jadhav on the instructions of Mumbai Police Commissioner Devin Bharti. The police is investigating the matter further.

Patna: Nine years after the murder of senior journalist Rajdev Ranjan in Bihar’s Siwan, the Special CBI Court in Muzaffarpur on Saturday convicted three accused while acquitting three others.

On May 13, 2016, Rajdev Ranjan, then bureau chief of a leading Hindi daily, was shot dead in Siwan.

He was returning from a hospital visit when assailants opened fire, hitting him with two bullets that proved fatal on the spot.

His wife, Asha Yadav, lodged the FIR at the Siwan Town police station, and suspicion soon pointed towards jailed RJD strongman and former Siwan MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, though charges were later framed against other accused.

The case was later taken over by the CBI, which filed a chargesheet against seven accused, excluding Shahabuddin.

Shahabuddin, considered the main accused, died during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The trial involved six accused – Azharuddin alias Laddan Mian, Rohit Kumar Soni, Vijay Kumar Gupta, Sonu Kumar Gupta, Rajesh Kumar, and Rishu Kumar Jaiswal.

Another accused was declared a juvenile, with his case being heard separately.

After nearly eight years of proceedings, during which the CBI examined 69 witnesses and presented 111 pieces of evidence, District and Additional Sessions Judge-3 Namita Singh delivered the judgment.

As per the judgement, Azharuddin alias Laddan Mian, Rajesh Kumar and Rishu Kumar Jaiswal were acquitted while Vijay Kumar Gupta, Sonu Kumar Gupta and Rohit Kumar Soni were found guilty.

Defence lawyer Sharad Sinha told reporters that the court acquitted three accused due to lack of evidence, while the remaining three were found guilty of the journalist’s murder.

The high-profile case, once linked to Shahabuddin’s political clout in Siwan, was initially heard at the Special Court (MP/MLA cases) in Patna before being shifted to the CBI Court in Muzaffarpur.

The sentencing of the three convicted accused is expected in the coming days.