E-Paper
Robbers target Pune cab drivers in Chakan and Kondhwa
The police officials investigating the case stated that stolen cars are used for smuggling narcotics in the border areas of the country in states like Rajasthan
Two drivers of a private cab aggregator were abducted and their cars stolen in the city in the past 48 hours. While one managed to escape from the clutches of his kidnappers, the other was found murdered in Katraj.
In the first case in Kondhwa, the Pune police have detained two persons for murdering cab driver Sunil Raghunath Shastri (52), a resident of Lohegaon on Friday.
According to the first information report (FIR) lodged by police sub-inspector (PSI) Vishnu Wadkar, Shastri worked as a driver for a private cab aggregator for the company car bearing registration number MH12QG8987. Shastri was on duty when he received a call on his mobile phone after his cab was booked for a trip through the mobile application of the private cab aggregator he worked for.
According to police, while on duty, he was brutally strangulated and killed by some unidentified persons. His body was found dumped at an open ground behind Kesar Lodge on Katraj-Kondhwa road, but his car was stolen and could not be found.
The police officials investigating the case stated that stolen cars are used for smuggling narcotics in the border areas of the country in states like Rajasthan. Kondhwa senior police inspector Anil Patil said that it was a serious crime where the abductors usually steal the cars and take them to border states like Rajasthan to carry out smuggling of narcotics.
In the second incident, a driver who worked for a private cab aggregator managed to escape from the clutches of his abductors after he jumped off from the car trunk in Chakan on June 21. Bearing a similar modus operandi as the first incident, his abductors had booked the private car for travel, police said.
The car driver identified as Vishal Hanumantrao Kale (27) lodged a complaint with the Chakan police that his abductors booked the car through the mobile app of the private cab aggregator and were picked up from KK Mall in Katraj at 11 am on Friday.
The accused attacked him with an iron rod on his head and other places all over the body. They even threatened to kill him. They put him into the car trunk and abducted him. However, when the car slowed down, Kale managed to escape. The abductors fled with the car and are untraceable as of now, the complaint said.
Chakan police maintained that the offence was yet to be registered with the police.
