The four men then take him into custody for possessing 20 grams of mephedrone.
Four cops were suspended today in Mumbai, police said, after a video showed them allegedly planting drugs on a man went viral on social media. In the video, two officers can be seen frisking a man as two others can be seen standing a few steps away.
Moments later, one of the them slips something into the suspect's hip pocket, the video shows. The four men then take him into custody for possessing 20 grams of mephedrone.
After an investigation was launched, it was confirmed that all the four men seen in the video are police personnel posted at Khar Police Station in Mumbai.
Those suspended included a police sub-inspector and three constables, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone XI) Rajtilak Roshan told news agency PTI.
According to sources, the man searched by the officers and in whose pocket the drugs were planted was identified as Daniel. The four policemen, attached to the Anti-Terror Cell of the Khar police station, raided an open plot of land in Kalina area of the city on Friday evening and detained him.
While speaking to a local news channel, Daniel claimed that the cops initially threatened to frame him in a drugs case but when they realised that their act was caught on a CCTV camera, he was allowed to go.
DCP Rajtilak Roshan told news agency PTI that disciplinary action was initiated against the four cops for not following set procedure and after their suspected actions were seen in the video, they were suspended pending inquiry.
"They reached the spot after getting information about drugs, but everything (they did) is seen in the CCTV," he said.
An associate of Daniel alleged that he was targeted at the behest of a builder over a dispute regarding the plot where the incident took place.