Many cop vans chased drunk asst director across city roads

A dramatic chase by several police vans is what it took to catch Mark Samuel, a Bollywood assistant director, who had allegedly fled from the police as he was driving drunk in the wee hours of Friday,

A dramatic chase by several police vans is what it took to catch Mark Samuel, a Bollywood assistant director, who had allegedly fled from the police as he was driving drunk in the wee hours of Friday,

HT Image

Samuel, accompanied by a woman friend, was heading to Jogeshwari after a party in Bandra, at around 3.30 am. When he spotted a nakabandi being conducted at the intersection of JVLR and the Western Express Highway, he took a U-turn and sped away, apprehending he would be caught for driving drunk, police said. However, the police van stationed there sped after him.

“When we saw Samuel flee from there, we alerted the western control room, which informed the patrol vans of other police stations in the area,” said an officer from Jogeshwari police station.

Samuel sped past the Jogeshwari railway crossing and was headed towards Amboli when a patrol van dispatched by the Jogeshwari police raced after him. By now, patrol vans from the surrounding Oshiwara and Amboli police station were also on his trial.

Oblivious to this, Samuel thought he had gotten the police off his trail. But when he reached Behrambaug, he saw a police vehicle and several policemen waiting there, who forced him to stop the vehicle, an officer said. “When he came out, he was shouting and did not co-operate with us,” the officer said.
Samuel and his friend Vidushi Sood were brought to the Jogeshwari police station. The accused were arrested on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, rash driving, not possesing a driving license, and non-cooperation with the police and assaulting policemen.

The accused were presented before the local court that remanded them to police custody till February 21.