Traffic cop, hit on head by helmetless biker brothers, dies

Mumbai: Vilas Shinde (53), the traffic cop who was repeatedly hit on the head with a wooden stick by a teen biker and his elder brother who were stopped at Khar for riding helmetless, succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday.
Shinde, a head constable attached to the Mahim-Bandra Causeway traffic chowky, had slipped into coma after being struck by the 17-year-old college student and his brother, Ahmed Qureshi (20), at a petrol pump on SV Road.
The death has sparked much anger in the police force. Locals and family friends heckled chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who came calling at the Shindes’ BDD chawl home in Worli on Wednesday.
The MNS and Shiv Sena too jumped into the row, playing the Marathi manoos card to embarrass the BJP.
The attackers were arrested by Khar police and booked for attempt to murder. They have now been charged for murder, Mumbai police spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe said. The juvenile is currently lodged in Dongri remand home, while Qureshi is in judicial custody.
“The juvenile was riding the bike without a helmet and without any vehicle documents. Also, the bike did not belong to the accused. At the time of incident there were no other cops present at the spot, which helped the accused to flee. They were held a few hours later from their home on SV Road,” said Khar senior police inspector Ramchandra Jadhav.
Doctors at Lilavati Hospital, where Shinde had been admitted in the ICU, said he remained comatose throughout his stay. “The nature of the injury was so severe that he could not fight it. A side of the brain was badly fractured and almost reduced to pulp. There was little scope for anything to be done,” said neurosurgeon Dr Atul Goel, adding that Shinde never gained consciousness. He was on ventilator throughout.
Shinde had undergone a procedure called craniotomy last Wednesday to create some space for the swelling brain to expand. “It didn’t do much though, as his condition remained the same,” said Goel. His kidneys too had started malfunctioning towards the end. He passed away around 1.30am on Tuesday.
Shinde’s wife Sadhna said her husband had left for work on August 23 after discussing how busy his schedule was going to be during the Ganpati festival. The couple have a 20-year-old son who is studying and a daughter who is married. Shinde’s septuagenarian father, who also served in the police force, too lived with the family.
Joint commissioner of police (traffic) Milind Bharambe said there are 3,500 traffic police personnel in Mumbai, and some of them have approached him showing their willingness to contribute one day’s salary to Shinde’s family. “We have set a target of Rs 30-35 lakh to give Shinde’s family in November after the one day salary deduction is done in October. Meanwhile, Mumbai police commissioner D D Padsalgikar is going to take a review and audit of security measures for traffic cops,” said Bharambe.
DCP Dudhe said, “The commissioner of police will do the needful for Shinde’s family. And according to procedure, the department will take a decision on giving a job to Shinde’s kin.”
When Khar police arrested Ahmed Qureshi and his younger brother for the assault, they were astonished to find these were the sons of Mohammed Ali Qureshi, a prominent “social worker” of the area, who, some say, was a police informant.
In fact, a lane leading from S V Road to Khar station is named after Qureshi who passed away a few years ago. His family comprising wife Shaheen and sons shifted to Yogesh Niwas chawl in 2014. Ahmed is reportedly a school dropout who worked with the merchant navy for a bit. The minor has finished school.
(Inputs by Bella Jaisinghani)