18 armymen arrested for Nashik police station attack

As many as 18 troopers of Army's School of Artillery have been arrested for allegedly vandalising a police station on the Nashik-Pune Highway and attacking policemen on duty, prompting the Army to initiate a probe into the incident.

"Army and police are working closely in this case and all help is being extended by the School of Artillery in the ongoing investigations," said a release issued by the Army PRO.

The release said exemplary action will be initiated against those who are found guilty in the joint investigation with police.

The Army swung into action after police booked the jawans under various sections of IPC, including criminal conspiracy, voluntarily causing grievous hurt and for outraging the modesty of women.

The incident occurred last afternoon when around 100-150 jawans, clad in track suits, arrived at Upnagar police station on motorcycles and went on a rampage there by damaging furniture, wireless equipment, telephone sets and also allegedly manhandled women police personnel.

Three policemen were injured in the attack, one of them seriously, police had said.

"We arrested 18 jawans last night itself from Lam Road in Deolali Camp area and also impounded 10 motorcycles that were used by them," Upnagar police station inspector Namrata Desai said, adding police have also slapped a relevant section of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act against the jawans.

The attack was apparently to avenge the detention of three Army personnel, including an officer of School of Artillery, Deolali, by police on Tuesday night following an altercation over parking of their vehicle at the gate of the police station. 

Police had already registered an FIR against the Lieutenant-rank officer Ashish Bagul and one Jayant Narad, a BJP leader from Nashikroad area, under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace).

Senior officers of School of Artillery, Deolali, visited the police station on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, in a late night statement, the School of Artillery authorities claimed that trigger for the incident was apparently "ill-treatment of an army officer at the hands of the police personnel at Upnagar police station". 

The army officer, a resident of Nashik, had gone to the police station on the night of January 13 to meet his maternal uncle who was in the police station in connection with a family dispute, the statement said. 

However, he (the officer) was "slapped, abused and locked up" by the police for improper parking of his motor-cycle in spite of his assurance that he would move it.

He was released after other Army officers went to the police station and after "a lot of persuasion", it said. 

The statement further said that the later arrests of Army jawans too happened "far away from the scene of the incident like banks, grocery stores, ATMs within Devlali without any evidence whatsoever to prove their culpability". 

The episode highlights "the necessity of homogeneous police-Army relations", it added.