Mumbai:
When a mentally-unstable man attacked Mithibai college student Payal Gupte, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's relative, in September, the Juhu police vowed to punish the guilty. Subsequently, they detained five men, who were all mentally challenged.
However, after the culprit was nabbed, the police, fearing that the five men could be a threat to society if let loose, abandoned the suspects in Virar. "We took the step keeping the city's safety in mind," a police officer said. Sources said the five had made life miserable for the police while they were in custody. "After observing their behaviour, we had apprehensions that they may cause a lot of harm if allowed to roam freely," a police officer said.
The police took the mentally-unstable men to the Vile Parle railway station. Some cops accompanied them on a train to Virar and then, left them there.
An officer from the Juhu police station said the decision to abandon them was taken after Bachauli Firrauddin, 22, a Nehru Nagar resident, was arrested for attacking Gupte with a rod outside her college. She fell unconscious after the attack and sustained 15 stitches on her head.
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