Mumbai: Cop suspended for sparing owners of racing Lamborghini, Ferrari on sea link

Whether or not it was a ‘sporting' gesture on part of sub-inspector (PSI) Anant Rao Rane of Worli police station in letting off culprits racing two sports cars on the Bandra Worli Sea Link last month is irrelevant. The fact is the cop has been suspended following an inquiry, which found that instead of arresting the owners of the Ferrari and Lamborghini who were driving rashly, he apprehended the drivers who were at home.

The Ferrari owned by Johan Postle that was used to race with a Lamborghini owned by Siddharth Mandawia on the sea link (below)u00a0in the night. File pics

Rane excused Johan Postle owner of the red Ferrari and Siddharth Mandawia who owns the yellow Lamborghini. The PSI also did not seize the cars, which were speeding on the Bandra Worli Sea Link on the night on March 6, and also allowed the women inside to leave.

Reinvestigation
"The case will be reinvestigated and the owners will be booked. The drivers - Anup Mhaskar (24) and Nitin Musle (28) - will also be booked for cheating, and we have suspended the PSI," said Vinayak Deshmukh, deputy police commissioner of zone III. After several complaints by residents of Worli that people race fast cars at night, police have started a campaign to nab the speedsters.

In a separate incident,u00a0Assistant police inspector Sachin Surywanashi caught MLA Kshitij Thakur speeding on the sea link. "Why will somebody hand such luxurious cars to their drivers and why will the latter dare to race? The owners, however, claimed that the drivers were inside the cars," said a police source. In addition, the owner of the Lamborghini had no documents with him at the time.

Despite this, the cars were not confiscated and the drivers were let off only with a fine. Interestingly, Postle had purchased the Ferrari from Mukesh Ambani. According to police sources, Rane did not take appropriate action against the owners despite receiving orders, and therefore was suspended.u00a0