Mumbai ACP targets restaurants, assaults owners with stick

Meet ACP Vasant Dhoble, head of the Social Service Branch of the Mumbai Police. For months, Dhoble has been on the warpath, making headlines for raiding and assaulting restaurant staff across the city, be it at hip restaurants, small eateries, private parties, or dance bars. At a juice centre in Vile Parle, his weapon of choice was a hockey stick for assaulting the waiters. Sixty four-year-old Yusuf Bhure, owner of the Mogal Sarai restaurant in Bandra, fell unconscious and partially lost his hearing after Dhoble struck him on the ear and groin while inspecting the restaurant.

The restaurant's papers were in order, but Bhure's health and dignity were left severely bruised. Insult added to injury after he was turned away from the Bandra Police Station, while trying to file an FIR against Dhoble.

"I have lost my izzat because of this incident, I have written a suicide note too," the distraught man said.

However, he did manage to file a plea against Dhoble in the Bombay High Court.

But the cop remains undeterred. His assault on restaurateurs and patrons across the city continues. A video filmed last year shows Dhoble at a bar in Chembur, assaulting a customer, and then going on to thrash a waiter, even as staff and customers look on.

In fact, after Dhoble's recent raid on an Oshiwara restaurant, two women have filed defamation cases against him for branding them as prostitutes.

Inspector Dhoble, however, is no stranger to inquiries and court cases. He has been suspended and disciplinary action has been taken against him for serious offences in the past.

On Friday night, Dhoble entered a popular, upscale restaurant in central Mumbai and began videotaping the venue, scaring away customers, and then charging the restaurant for overcrowding, under an archaic act.

The police has refused to comment on his antics. But sources say Dhoble has the support of the police top brass, which is giving momentum to his brazen assaults.