Mumbai, October 31: PAWAN Bhargav (32), the freelance journalist who attempted suicide allegedly to escape the clutches of the police after a failed sting operation, ironically found himself jailed as a result.
Immediately after being discharged from Thane Civil Hospital on Monday afternoon, Bhargav was arrested by the local police for attempted suicide. He was, however, released on bail by the Thane Metropolitan Magistrate immediately after.
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We were in a dilemma as to whether to arrest him or not. But since he had committed an offence by attempting suicide, we had to arrest him,’’ said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Thane Zone) Madhukar Pandey.
Bhargav, a Navi Mumbai resident, consumed pesticide at a Thane lodge on October 26. The suicide attempt was prompted by a failed sting operation against Hamid Qazi, the Navi Mumbai police constable accused of raping a bar dancer.
While Pawan and a few fellow journalists had claimed to possess recorded conversations between the constable and the bar dancer detailing the alleged rape, the supposed victim retracted her statement soon after the tapes were aired. Thereafter, the journalists were called in for questioning by the Navi Mumbai police and purportedly blamed the entire operation on Bhargav.
Soon after, Bhargav wrote a suicide note blaming two top Navi Mumbai police officers and two journalists for driving him to attempt suicide. We do not plan to take action on the basis of the suicide note. Since the attempt failed, we will only be charging Bhargav,’’ a police source said.
