Man attacks 3 cops with choppers at Marine Drive, held

A 27-year-old unemployed man attacked three police personnel with a chopper at Marine Drive, on Saturday, during a nakabandi.

A 27-year-old unemployed man attacked three police personnel with a chopper at Marine Drive, on Saturday, during a nakabandi.

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The accused, an architect living in south Mumbai’s Cumbala Hills, has been arrested by the police. The injured policemen have received multiple injuries.

According to officers from Marine Drive police station, the accused, Karan Pradip Nair, was walking on the footpath from Chowpatty to Marine Drive with a chopper in his hand around 1.30am on Saturday.

Marine Drive police officers, who were on a nakabandi duty near Pransukhlal Mafatlal Hindu Swimming Bath and Boat Club asked him to stop after seeing the chopper in his hand. But Nair continued to run towards Marine Drive, following which some police officers chased him.

“Our men tried to overpower him when he stopped, but he threatened them and tried to assault them with the chopper. He even attacked an officer on the neck, but the officer managed to dodge him and sustained injury on his shoulder. Two other officers sustained injuries on their hands,” said Mrityunjay Hiremath, senior police inspector.

The injured police personnel – a night round police inspector Jitendra Kadam, sub-inspector Sachin Shelke and constable Sagar Shelke – were taken to Sir JJ Hospital for medical aid and were released after primary medication. They were not admitted at the hospital as they would have been at risk of contracting Covid-19, Hiremath said.

The accused is an architecture graduate who is currently unemployed and lives with his mother and younger sister in a Cumbala Hill house which he owns on a pagdi system.

“Preliminary probe revealed that before leaving his home on Saturday, Nair had a heated argument with his mother wherein he got angry and threatened to kill someone and left with the chopper, which is otherwise used for cutting trees,” said Hiremath.

The police is further investigating the case.

Nair has been charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and Maharashtra Police Act. He would be produced in court on Saturday.