For 2nd day, Pune Police summon drug peddlers, illegal arms carriers & rowdies

Pune: For the second consecutive day, the Pune Police summoned over 400 'on-record' drug peddlers, illegal weapons carriers, neighbourhood roughies and toughies for a ‘parade’ near the office of Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar here on Wednesday.

On February 6, the daring new CoP Amitesh Kumar had summoned around 267 top gang-leaders, mafia dons, and others facing grave charges since years with a dreaded reputation among the citizenry, plus flaunting their political connections, and gave them a stern piece of his mind.

Today's fresh black list featured the second-rung criminal elements, including a few women, who have been booked, arrested or bailed out in the past one year in different cases and enjoy a notorious reputation with crimes recorded against them in one or more of the 32 police stations dotting the city.

In a no-nonsense homily to the assembled baddies on Wednesday -- many standing with their heads hung down or with folded hands -- Kumar warned that they would have to stop all their nefarious activities which would not be tolerated henceforth and they must start adhering to the laws.

He made it clear that the police will keep a strict watch on their affairs from now onwards, they "must behave", their criminal activities would not go unnoticed and anybody found going wayward would be dealt with sternly.

The dubious characters 'invited' for Wednesday's "police darshan" included drug peddlers and suppliers, those possessing or providing illegal weapons like swords, choppers (knives), pistols or guns, crooks running illegal matka or satta gambling dens, lotteries, clubs with shady goings-on, street-fighters, plus over a dozen women engaged in questionable activities including violence and other anti-social elements.

Officials indicate that the Pune Police may call more persons facing less serious crimes over the coming days, with plans to take a bond of good behaviour from them or other similar precautions, to instill a fear for the law-enforcers among those blatantly flouting the laws. Kumar's strong-arm actions vis-a-vis the goons and gangsters in the past couple of days have earned him wide admiration from the Pune citizens with many lavishing praises on him on social media, particularly with the Lok Sabha elections looming ahead.