SUV with police beacon seized over stunts video

Police said the incident came to light after a video of a man driving the car in a reckless manner on the Rajouri Garden-Najafgarh Road emerged on social media

The Delhi Police have seized a sports utility vehicle (SUV) after it was being used to perform dangerous stunts on a key arterial road in west Delhi around two weeks ago, officers aware of the case said on Wednesday. However, the officers said that the man who was driving the vehicle at the time of the incident is absconding.

Police said that the man who was driving the vehicle at the time of the incident is absconding.

Police said the incident came to light after a video of a man driving a white Toyota Fortuner in a reckless manner on the Rajouri Garden-Najafgarh Road emerged on social media. In the video, the SUV has a functional red and blue beacon — similar to the one used in police vehicles — and has tinted windows, but does not have registration number plates.

The video was first uploaded on February 22 on an Instagram account with 129,000 followers, and police said the account has many similar videos of stunts being performed on the road.

“Despite attempts to conceal the vehicle’s identity by removing number plates, diligent scrutiny of CCTV footage led to the identification and seizure of the Fortuner car,” deputy commissioner of police (west) Vichitra Veer said.

The DCP said the owner of the vehicle — police did not share his name, but said that he is a law student at a private university in Noida, who lives in East of Kailash in south Delhi — has joined the probe, claiming that he did not know that his vehicle was being used to perform stunts.

“We are making efforts to nab the person who is seen in the video recklessly driving the Fortuner car and performing stunts. The car owner has identified him as Piyush Sharma but has failed to lead our police team to his house. The identity and other facts related to the person can be identified only when we nab and question him,” said Veer.

“The car owner’s version will be verified after we nab the person involved in the stunts,” the DCP added.