The district court on Wednesday convicted a Chandigarh man for stealing his own SUV that had been impounded after he was caught driving it in an inebriated state in 2016.
Besides sentencing Harpreet Singh Sethi, aka Gagandeep Singh, 31, “to undergo imprisonment for the period already undergone (August 7-8, 2016), the court of chief judicial magistrate Abhishek Phutela fined him ₹50,000.
Head constable Kamal Singh, the complainant in the case, was on duty at a drunken driving naka at the Sector 16/17 light point on the night of August 7, 2016. Around 12:15am, he stopped a Toyota Innova bearing a local number that was coming from the Matka Chowk side.
On making the driver, later identified as Harpreet of Sector 18, Chandigarh, take the alcometer test, he found him drunk. While legal limit of blood alcohol content while driving is 30mg per 100ml, the reading in Harpreet’s case was 73mg.
Police made Harpreet park the Innova on the roadside and took its keys. However, as they got busy, he fled with his car using a duplicate key.
{{/usCountry}}Police made Harpreet park the Innova on the roadside and took its keys. However, as they got busy, he fled with his car using a duplicate key.
{{/usCountry}}It was after repeated calls made to him to bring back the vehicle, the accused returned and parked it at some distance from the naka. Following the registration of an FIR under Section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code, he was arrested.
In the court, Harpeet pleaded that his father has died and he is the sole breadwinner of the family. Unmarried, he has a degree in computer science, he said, adding that he has never been involved in any offence earlier and sought leniency.
However, holding him guilty, the court said: “The venturous act of the accused in taking away his own car whilst it was in the lawful custody of the police, out of possession of police party and without their consent, is certainly theft.”
While pronouncing the quantum, the judge said: “This court is of the considered opinion that although the convict is a first-time offender, still his audacity in stealing away the car in the custody of police by using a duplicate key deserves reprimand. Temerity exhibited by the convict deserves disapproval of the court and therefore exemplary punishment.”