Speeding car driver ‘ignores’ the crossing cat, crushes it under wheels

Thane: In two separate incidents of animal brutality from the Rabodi area and Ambernath village, a cat was run over by a car and a python’s head was smashed with a heavy stone on Saturday

Thane: In two separate incidents of animal brutality from the Rabodi area and Ambernath village, a cat was run over by a car and a python’s head was smashed with a heavy stone on Saturday. An eyewitness in the second incident confirmed that some youngsters clicked pictures with the dead python for social media.

Speeding car driver ‘ignores’ the crossing cat, crushes it under wheels

The first incident was reported from COSMOS tower area, Rabodi at around 2pm, when a cat was crossing the street and got run over by a car, driven by accused Ramesh Gupta. The entire incident was captured on CCTV.

An officer from Rabodi police station, SPI S Ghatekar, said, “The cat was visible and the driver could have reduced the speed of his car to save the crossing cat or he could have just honked. He did neither. He was booked under IPC 429 and 279. We got the car’s details from the CCTV footage and identified Gupta, a resident of Kolbad. We have sent a notice to him to be present for the police inquiry.”

The second incident was reported from Usatane village, Ambernath, where a resident found a 10-foot dead python, killed by an unknown person by smashing its head with a heavy stone. According to bystanders, some youngsters found the dead snake and had a photo session with it. One of them also posted pics holding the python on social media.

The forest department officials got this information and reached the spot.

An officer from the Badlapur forest department said, “After checking the condition of the dead python, it emerged that its head was smashed with a heavy object. We booked an unknown person under sections of the Wildlife Protection Act and started an investigation into it. We have also sent notices to the youngsters who clicked pictures with the dead python for fun.”