Rajkot: Four police personnel were suspended and five others were transferred on Sunday following an attack on a State Monitoring Cell (SMC) team during a raid on an alleged gambling den in Veraval town of Gir Somnath district earlier this week.The action comes after the SMC raided an alleged gambling den operating from the house of Bhikhu Vaja in the Mota Koliwada area of Veraval on July 8. During the operation, the raiding team was allegedly attacked by a mob, prompting an SMC officer to fire two rounds in the air to disperse the crowd, police said.Two separate FIRs were subsequently registered against 34 persons at Veraval City police station in connection with the incident.Gir Somnath superintendent of police (SP) Jaydeepsinh Jadeja on Sunday suspended four members of the surveillance squad attached to Veraval City police station for alleged negligence in duty during the raid. Those suspended include assistant sub-inspectors Narvansinh Gohil and Ajitsinh Parmar, and head constables Natubha Basiya and Pradipsinh Kher.In addition to the suspensions, the SP ordered the transfer of five officers to the leave reserve in ‘public interest’. These include, Veraval City police inspector J N Gadhvi, local crime branch (LCB) in charge PI S V Rajput, LCB PSIs H L Jebaliya and A C Sindhav, and Veraval City police station PSI P P Prajapati.Following the raid on July 8, two criminal cases were registered against 34 accused, and departmental action was initiated against the police personnel found negligent in performing their duties.
