Gujarat: Burglars in house but cop calls owner to police station

VADODARA: Imagine a gang of burglars lurking outside your house and the cops giving fuzzy replies on the phone, asking you to come to the police station and file a complaint instead of rushing to your home. That is what happened in Limdi taluka of Dahod district early on Thursday morning.
A gang of burglars targeted the residence of one Devendra Bhatevra on Zalod Road in Limdi.Devendra woke up suddenly on hearing his dog bark. He checked the CCTV system of his house on his phone and saw burglars. He called his brother Pravin, who was staying near his house and asked him to inform the police.
Pravin called the police but only ended up wasting precious minutes, which ensured that the burglars broke into Devendra’s house and stole valuables. An audio clip of the conversation between Pravin and the cops went viral, revealing that when Pravin called Limdi police station, an unknown person picked up the phone. The person initially behaved as if he could not hear Pravin, but then started asking someone at the police station to attend to the call.
Pravin kept waiting for a response for about 2.30 minutes, during which Pravin sounded frustrated at the delay. When someone responded eventually, Pravin told him about the burglars. The person at the other end asked for the location and then, surprisingly, asked Pravin to come to Limdi and file a complaint. Pravin was surprised and questioned the idea of coming to the police station when a burglary was in progress. To this, the man responded, “You are at home? Who is there outside?”
As if this was not enough, the person even said, “Call up Limdi. I am at Mirakhedi. Who gave you this number?” It seemed as if the person was oblivious to the fact that he was speaking from the Limdi police station and the caller was also from Limdi. When Pravin asked the policeman who he was, the policeman said that he was Ajit Damor. The fruitless call lasted for over four minutes.
In the meantime, the burglars forced open a door at Devendra’s house and stole valuables. They left without any resistance as Devendra saw that there were four of them and the brothers decided to stay in their houses and call the police. The police came after the burglars had left.
Deputy superintendent of police D R Patel said that Damor, who is the police station officer (PSO), was suspended on Thursday. Patel pointed out that he was posted at the Mirakhedi outpost and was transferred to the Limdi police station recently. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident.
Police managed to reach the house only because Pravin had the phone number of another policeman whom he called and informed about the burglary. The policeman called the Limdi police sub-inspector and a team was rushed to the house, but it was too late by then.