Dismissed Beed cyber cell cop arrested in Pune’s Swargate

Pune/Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Beed police cyber cell's suspended sub-inspector Ranjit Kasale, who was at the centre of a controversy after he released video clips making sweeping allegations against politicians and challenging police to arrest him, was apprehended from a lodge at Swargate in Pune in the early hours of Friday.
The arrest, executed in a joint operation after he evaded police for nearly a month, was in connection with an FIR registered against him under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, for an objectionable post on social media on April 2. The complainant was a local lawyer.
He was taken to Beed, where he would be produced before a court on Saturday. On Thursday evening, the inspector general of police for Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar range issued an order dismissing Kasale from service.
DCP (crime) with Pune police, Nikhil Pingale, said he received an alert from Beed police on late Thursday night that Kasale was holed up in a lodge and help was needed to trace him.
"A police team led by crime branch (unit 2) inspector Pratap Mankar identified Sundaram Lodge in Swargate and verified that Kasale was staying there. A Beed local crime branch team, on reaching Pune, was taken to the lodge, and from there, they took Kasale into custody at 5.30am. Kasale was taken to Beed for futher action. An entry in this regard has been made in the general register of Swargate police station," he said.
Additional superintendent with Beed police, Sachin Pandkar, confirmed that Kasale was wanted in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act case. "We could not produce Kasale before a court as Friday was a public holiday. It will be done on Saturday," he said.
On March 26 Kasale was suspended over his ‘unauthorised' visit to Gujarat in a personal vehicle ‘to investigate a cybercrime' in which he allegedly sought a bribe.
After his suspension, Kasale went into hiding, posting videos from different locations. He claimed that he was offered a large sum of money to eliminate former Parli municipal chief Valmik Karad in an encounter. Karad is a prime suspect in the murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh and is currently lodged in jail. He accused NCP leader Dhananjay Munde of offering him Rs10 lakh for allowing poll rigging for Parli assembly seat.