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Set up in September 2011, Kadana police station has no police inspector since July last after the police inspector there retired. At present, there is not even a police sub-inspector except the one stationed on Kadana dam.
“The police station has a sanctioned strength of 56 personnel but presently we have just 32,” said a source.
At present, circle police inspector of neighbouring Lunavada, M H Sutar, is in charge of Kadana. Top district police officers confirmed this had been the norm since the time the new police station was carved out.
Sutar, who is the investigation officer (IO) in the rape case, has been on leave since Sunday. Neither district SP Sachin Badshah nor other police officers in Lunawada could tell when he would report back on duty. “We have vacancy for two inspectors. We are also short of eight PSIs. However, Kadana is not very prone to crime and absence of police officers will not affect probe in the case,” Badshah told The Indian Express.
Kadana police have booked Hanif Kureshi, a resident of Lunavada taluka, and two others for kidnapping and rape but the trio are at large.
To add to the victim’s misery, none of three government hospitals in the district have a gynaecologist. The minor had to be brought to SSG Hospital here for medical tests.
