An arrested man's hands were tied with a rope and he was told to get behind the wheel of a car that he admitted he had stolen. The result was an accident involving three cars and at least two bikes on Jangali Maharaj Road, and four people injured, reports Mid Day.
Rajendra Shivaji Babar (40), the man asked by the police to drive to the Kothrud police station as they sat in the car, has 60 housebreakings to his name in police records.
"Why did the police allow a history-sheeter to drive a stolen car while his hands were still tied with a rope?" said one of the injured, requesting anonymity.
Babar, a resident of Wai in Satara, and his accomplice Appalal Alisaheb Padu (25) were being taken from the Shivajinagar court to the Kothrud police station. They had been taken to the court because Babar had confessed to having parked a stolen car there.
Asked to drive the car with his hands tied, Babar drove fast, and when he took a sharp left turn, his vehicle rammed into three cars and at least two bikes, injuring four people.
One of the injured was Devidas Dolare (25) who collects money at the J M road parking lot. Babar was caught by a mob of people near Sambhaji Park, but three constables named Rajage, Sayyad, and Jagtap immediately stepped in and took charge of the situation. Babar and Padu were then driven to the Deccan police station.
Three of the four injured in the accident said the police were only interested in not letting Babar escape and did not pay any attention to the injured. Babar's vehicle hit a Maruti Zen and a bike, which came under the Zen's front wheels. Injured biker Azar Nur Jamal Shiekh (20) said, "The cops did not ask me about my injuries."
Azar's bike also hit another bike, and its rider Sudhi Dattatray Nimbalkar fell down. The Zen hit a parked car and IDBI manager Chandrashekhar Dhondopant Kulkarni.
