Sex and the Mumbai Police

Two recent cases highlight how the city police force is getting screwed by its libido

Two recent cases highlight how the city police force is getting screwed by its libido

On 13 December, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Mumbai) Baburao Gaikwad got as many as 20–29 missed calls, depending on which news report you believe, while he was in a meeting with the Commissioner of Police. It was only after the meeting that Gaikwad found a moment to respond to the caller. At the other end was Meena Gharat, a housewife.

What they spoke about is a matter of speculation, but what is beyond doubt is what happened next. Gaikwad came to the police station he was posted at, in Dahisar, a northern suburb of Mumbai, and shot himself in the head with his 9 mm service revolver.

There are several theories doing the rounds on why Gaikwad took his life. By one lurid account, he was being black­mailed by the woman with an MMS clip because he’d stopped paying her after their relationship soured; by another, his seniors had ticked him off for not sorting out his life; and by yet another, as alleged by Meena herself—who claims to be a mere family friend—in a hastily called press conference, he was overworked and afraid of a corruption investigation.

The police, however, are clear that Gaikwad’s extra-marital affair cost him his life. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police (northern re­gion) Ramrao Pawar, this is the angle un­der investigation. “We have come to know of his affair,” said Pawar, “We are told that he was under tremendous pres­sure due to it.”

Whatever the truth, the episode has re­vealed the underbelly of a police force riddled with tales of undercover sex. Going by unofficial statistics being ban­died about by home department officials, at least four of every 10 policemen are in­volved in extra-marital relationships. So far, this was not seen as a major problem, but two events have reduced tolerance levels. The Gaikwad suicide was the sec­ond; the first knell was sounded by Senior Police Inspector Arun Borude.

A former Crime Branch officer, Borude had made a routine of taking a 15-year-old to a house in Powai and raping her, as the charges against him specify. It was only after her impregnation that her sex­ual exploitation was discovered and a case filed against him. Investigations also found that Borude regularly used the services of ‘virgin’ prostitutes provided by a female pimp who moonlighted as a domestic help. The police say he had a fet­ish for young girls. So confident was he of the shield offered by his uniform, that he took girls to a flat in the same building where he stayed with his family.

Borude has since been dismissed from service and has been on the run for over a month. His sinister arrangement is now being seen as a key link in a wider prosti­tution racket that might embroil others in uniform too. Also, his case appears to have a tenuous connection to Gaikwad’s suicide. Some policemen say that when the Commissioner met Gaikwad the day he shot himself, the top boss had cited Borude’s example to demand that police­men behave themselves.

Police officers who don’t want to be named say there is hardly a police station in Mumbai where the problem of illicit sex is not adversely affecting work. Most of the cops’ entanglements, they let on, are with sex workers and bar girls, but some are having affairs with female wit­nesses and fellow policewomen. “Those involved are regularly absent from work and have an alcohol problem. Besides, they are constantly lying. I know that when my man is not there doing his job, he’s with a woman. Most of the time it is difficult to prove it,” says a senior officer at a South Mumbai police station.

So strong is the stench of scandal that the Maharashtra government has gone beyond expressing its outrage. RR Patil, the state home minister, has been suffi­ciently shocked by the Borude and Gaikwad cases to demand details of all extra-marital affairs of policemen. Meanwhile, prompted to act, the Mumbai Police has started organising re­ligious discourses on sexual propriety. These sermons are being delivered re­gion by region and are compulsory for policemen to attend, according to Patil.

As part of this morality enhancement initiative, Mumbai’s northern region cops recently had to attend a sermon by Sakshi Ramkripalji of the Sci-Divine Foundation. The talk touched specifical­ly on extra-marital affairs and other such immoral behaviour. The spiritual guru pinned the problem on a combination of stress, long duty hours and days away from family. “Policemen need to be strong,” intoned the guru, speaking to an audience of 550 officers, constables and their families, “They need to understand the importance of moral behaviour, giv­en the power they wield.”

Such exercises, ACP Pawar feels, will do the police force some good. “Cops face constant stress and need such counsel­ling sessions,” he says, “They have per­sonal and professional problems and need to tackle them in a positive manner. We do not want more cases like Borude and Gaikwad.”

Of late, the Mumbai Police Commissioner has issued a series of stern warnings as well. But the problem has been festering for quite some time. In fact, cops with complicated personal lives are so common in the force that the pension department is habituated to seeking clear instructions on nominees as policemen approach retirement. “We have been shocked by some of the claim­ants,” says a department official.

The pension department has seen many cases where more than one wom­an turned up to claim benefits after the death of a policeman. In April 2010, for example, when Inspector Shivraj Patil shot himself at Borivali police station, two women turned up claiming to be his wife and demanding his pension. The de­partment is still trying to verify who the legal nominee is.

The priority now, however, is to uncov­er the hidden links between the police force and the sex business. Many police­men are suspected of secret partnerships with dance bars and of acting as part-time pimps for bar girls. Says a cop, “If RR Patil pays a surprise visit to any police station at night, particularly in interior Mumbai, he will be shocked at what’s go­ing on there.” The demand for morality sermons, it would seem, is far from ex­hausted yet.

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