Nine policemen sentenced to life imprisonment in Washim !

Case relating to the 2011 custodial death of a young man
Accused of falsely implicating an innocent young man in a criminal case
Verdict delivered after 15 years

Washim (Maharashtra) – The District and Sessions Court in Washim has sentenced nine policemen to life imprisonment in connection with the custodial death of a young man in 2011. The victim died after being assaulted by police while in custody. District and Sessions Judge Jaysingh Jhapate delivered this landmark verdict 15 years, 1 month and 23 days after the incident.

1. On 9 May 2011, the then Inspector-in-Charge of Risod Police Station, Mahadev Manik Dhande, along with eight other policemen, raided a Pardhi settlement at Wadhona village in Sengaon taluka of Hingoli district. During the operation, a young man named Begya Pawar was arrested as a suspect in a theft case. He died after allegedly being assaulted by the police to force him to confess to the crime.

2. In this case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted an investigation for 34 days and registered a case against the accused policemen for murder and offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The verdict was delivered 15 years later.

3. No criminal case had ever been registered against Begya Pawar previously. He was implicated by the police solely because he belonged to the Pardhi community.

Policemen sentenced to life imprisonment

The policemen sentenced to life imprisonment are the then Risod Police Station Inspector Mahadev Manik Dhande, Madan Pawar, Shivaji Khillari, Punjab Patkar, Ramesh Pawar, Prakash Taram, Nagorao Khandke, Ashok Vaidya and Vasant Jadhav.