Mumbai Police Probe Driver After Video Shows Him Threatening Protesters
An inquiry has been launched and the officer reassigned after footage emerged showing him threatening to plant drugs on protesting students.
A Mumbai police officer was captured on video threatening to plant drugs on students who were protesting, prompting the police department to order an internal probe into the incident. The footage, which circulated widely on social media, showed the officer making the threat during a confrontation with the demonstrators. The decision to launch an inquiry came amid public outcry over the officer's conduct and the potential misuse of authority.
A video circulating on social media on Thursday showed a Mumbai Police driver threatening two young men inside a vehicle, telling them he would plant 50 grams of powder and ensure they spent the rest of their lives in jail. The clip, posted by the Mumbai Congress, captured the uniformed officer seated at the wheel of what appears to be a police vehicle while the two youths record the interaction. "If I see you around here again, then it will not be good for you. I will directly plant 50 grams of powder. Then your life is gone. You won’t get bail. We are in trouble because of you all. Don’t come back," the officer is heard saying in the footage (The Hindu).
The policeman, identified as a driver attached to Sion Police Station until his transfer, was removed from his current posting within hours of the video going viral on the morning of July 23, 2026. Mumbai Police ordered an internal inquiry into the incident the same day. "Mumbai Police has ordered an inquiry into the matter and action will be taken after verifying the facts. The driver has been removed from the place of his present posting till the completion of inquiry," a police official said (The Hindu). The Hindu reported it could not independently verify the authenticity of the clip.
The threat emerged against the backdrop of a wider confrontation between police and student demonstrators. A delegation of the Maharashtra Congress, led by state president Harshawardhan Sapkal, met Director General of Police Sadanand Date and Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti on Thursday, submitting a memorandum that alleged the preventive detention of 500 to 700 students across Mumbai on July 20. The Congress claimed many were picked up from metro stations, public roads, and homes before reaching the main protest site, and that false FIRs had been registered at Shivaji Park, Dharavi, Chembur, and other police stations (The Hindu). The memorandum described the detentions as illegal, stating they occurred without prohibitory orders under Section 144 in force and without solid legal grounds.
The students involved are associated with the Campus Justice Party (CJP), according to social media posts accompanying the video (Reddit News). The Congress memorandum characterised the protests as a peaceful effort by young people aged 16 to 30 to raise their voices against "chaos in the education system" (The Hindu). The police have not publicly detailed the specific charges or legal basis for the detentions referenced in the Congress complaint. The inquiry ordered on Thursday remains focused on the driver's conduct captured in the viral footage.
Reddit News·The Hindu