Constable, who was once attached to Jitendra Awhad’s security, found dead on rail tracks

A Mumbai police constable, who was once posted in the security detail of NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad and was arrested in an assault case, was found dead on the railway tracks between Nilje and Taloja in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday morning. The Government Railway Police (GRP) suspect it to be a case of suicide.

Senior inspector Pandhari Kande from Thane GRP said local residents alerted them about a man lying on the tracks after being run over by a train. “We took him to Balaji hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. He was later identified as Taloja resident Vaibhav Kadam who worked with the Mumbai police’s special protection unit (SPU). Prima facie, it appeared to be a case of suicide. We did not find a suicide note on him.”

A case of accidental death was registered, Kande said, adding the police had seized Kadam’s phone.

Kadam was one of the three constables attached to Awhad’s security when Thane-based engineer Anant Karmuse was allegedly brought to the MLA’s Naad bungalow behind Viviana Mall on the night of April 5, 2020, and assaulted for morphing a photograph of the NCP leader and releasing it on social media, according to a complaint filed with the Vartak Nagar police.

Karmuse had alleged that Awhad’s supporters had taken him to the bungalow and beaten him up with a lathi and iron rod. Subsequently, Mumbai police constables Vaibhav Kadam and Suresh Janathe, and Thane police constable Sagar More were arrested along with nine others.