Pune police nab four for stealing Ola cab

The police arrested four men for stealing an Ola cab driver’s car along with a laptop, tablet, and cash on Monday morning. The collective recovery was worth Rs 5,12,300, according to Senior Police Inspector V V Mugalikar of Pimpri police station.

A complaint was filed by Deepak Dayavan Mhaske, a resident of Sadashiv Peth, who was driving the cab.The incident took place as the four men held a knife to the cab driver’s throat and forced him out of the cab after which he approached the police. Mhaske reached the Pimpri police station around 2:30 am and approached Assistant Police Inspector Thubbal.

The four men were identified as Sagar Kamaji Khallal (26), Somnath Narhari Solav (22), Kailash Suresh Padole (19) and Bhairu Harichand Garad (27), all were the residents of Pimpri Gaon. The cab was hired through the mobile application of Ola around 1 am when five people boarded the cab and headed to Pimple Saudagar. The police acquired the mobile number of the person who booked the cab and identified him as Tryambak Desai (30). His phone number was traced to a location in Pimpri Gaon. The police brought him in for questioning where he claimed to have booked a cab for the five of them on Sagal Khallal’s demand for a cigarette.

However, Desai claimed that once they returned form Pimple Saudagar, he de-boarded the cab at Saundarya Chowk and had no knowledge of what transpired after he left. He provided the names and whereabouts of the four people who threatened the driver with a knife.

“The GPS location of the phone was last traced at 4 am. We found two of the four people first,which led us to the third one and the last one, Sagar Khallal, who is the prime suspect, was found last with all the items which were recovered. He was the one who held a knife to the complainant’s throat,” said Senior PI Mugalikar.The four arrested are from Parbhani in Marathwada. While three of them work as drivers in the city, Khallal was unemployed and had come to the city, seeking employment, the police said.

First Published: Jun 26, 2017 23:02 IST