Reckless driver in BMW caught after 1 km of hot pursuit

The young man jumped all the traffic signals in his way and injured traffic police officials who were trying to stop him.u00a0He kept driving the car recklessly for more than a kilometre before he was finally caught at 9.30 pm by the police near Mall Dhakka Chowk near the Pune railway station. The arrested person was identified as Amit Ramesh Puri, a resident of Clover Village, Wanowrie.u00a0

No escaping the long arm of the law: The BMW that Amit Ramesh Puri was driving, now parked at the Bund Garden police station. Pic/Krunal Gosavi

According to the information given by the Bund Garden police station, at 8.15 pm on Tuesday traffic constables Layappa Pujari and Ramcharan Katukaran were manning the traffic junction at Dorabjee chowk on Moledina Road. At 8.25, a BMW car (MH-HL 6927) came from Arora Towers and, as the signal was red, the driver was instructed to stop by Pujari, but the accused ignored the constable and kept driving the car recklessly, jumping the signal.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Zone IV) V T Pawar, who was among the officials who chased the car, said, "I was in my police van and was on my way to home, but when I saw the driver of the BMW was driving the car recklessly, I along with Pujari and Katukaran gave chase and also alerted the wireless about the rampaging car."

He said that at Nehru Memorial hall chowk, some commuters tried to intercept the driver, but he did not listen to them. When finally several motorcycles were laid in front of the car, he had to stop. "I got down from my van and instructed him to get down from the car, but he was not cooperating so I pulled out my gun and threatened him to come out from the car. During all this, some commuters vented their anger on his car's windscreen," Pawar said.

Despite police and commuters' efforts to get the accused out of the car, he again managed to start the car and drove off towards Maal Dhakka Chowk, injuring some traffic police officials in the process. "As we had already alerted the wireless, a staff member from the Bund Garden police station chased the car and nabbed him near Maal Dhakka chowk," Katukaran said.

According to the information given by the police, the driver is a student and his father is in the import-export business.u00a0"We have arrested him under Section 353 and relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act and we are investigating why he drove the car recklessly," Police Inspector Subhash Nikam of the Bund Garden police station said. The police said that the driver was not in an inebriated condition when caught.u00a0