Pune: IPS officer Bhagyashree Navatakke has been booked by the Pune Police in connection with the Bhaichand Hirachand Raisoni (BHR) cooperative bank fraud case.

The case has been registered at the Bund Garden Police Station following directives from the Home Department.

The BHR cooperative bank was implicated in a major fraud case involving the defrauding of depositors, leading to the registration of a case in Pune back in 2021.

At that time, Bhagyashree Navatakke held the position of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Pune Police.

Six years ago, while being a probationary IPS, Bhagyashree Navatakke was abruptly transferred to the State Intelligence Department (SID) in Aurangabad after a video clip of her making a controversial statement about the Dalit community had gone viral.

Navatakke, who had been serving as the Sub-Divisional Police Officer in Majalgaon, found herself at the center of a storm when a video surfaced showing her making offensive remarks.

The video quickly spread across social media, leading to a complaint being lodged with the Director General of Police by Baburao Potbhare of the Bahujan Vikas Morcha, who demanded legal action under the Atrocities Act. The then Director General of Police had expressed his displeasure and ordered an inquiry.

The clip depicts the IPS officer sitting in a closed space with a group of five or six people, discussing the "action" she had taken against Dalits and Muslims.

Addressing someone seated in front of her, the officer says in Marathi, "I only hit you four or five times. But do you know how we deal with Dalits? We tie their hands and legs and beat them." She goes on to say, "By beating Dalits, I vented my frustration over the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act."