Mumbai : A driver was arrested on Friday after he rammed a luxury car into a police barricade, injuring four policemen and a passer-by, before stopping dangerously close to the 26/11 memorial. The incident took place outside Police Gymkhana at Marine Drive where the police had place a barricade on Friday. Around 1.30 am, a speeding Audi A6 ploughed into the barricade and knocked down five people standing on the pavement and destroyed a concrete bench, before moving onto the service lane and crashing into the the corner of the 26/11 memorial.
Marine Drive police said that the car is registered in the name of a businessman and Gamdevi resident Dharmesh Shah, who was not in the car at the time of the incident. Police said that Shah’s driver Dinesh Devidas Khandekar, 43, was the one behind the wheel when the incident took place.
They said Khandekar was arrested from the spot and his blood test shows that he was not drunk driving. The police have booked Khandekar under IPC sections 279 (rash driving), 338 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 427 (mischief causing loss or damage).
Shah’s servant Hariram Mahato, who was also inside the crashed Rs 60 lakh black luxury sedan, has told the police that it was Shah’s wedding anniversary and his family had thrown a surprise party for him at Oberoi Hotel, Nariman Point. “The driver and Mahato were headed towards the hotel to deliver Shah’s clothes when the accident took place,” said senior inspector Zunjarrao Gharal of Marine Drive police station.
Those knocked down by the Audi A6 were police naiks Sainath Dashrath Dhuri (40), Pankaj Khairnar (30) and Syresh Tate (57), constable Amol Kale (29), and a Pydhonie resident Mubarak Rehamatali Shaikh (35), who was stopped at the barricade for a routine check.
Dhuri has fractured his leg and has been admitted at Bombay Hospital, where he underwent an operation on Friday afternoon. Khairnar has been admitted to Nagapada Police Hospital and has suffered injuries on his right leg. Kale was hit on the chest and hand and is also undergoing treatment at the police hospital.
Both Kale and Khairnar were discharged, only to be readmitted hours later. “The driver couldn’t control the speed and the car rammed into us. It then went all the way till the 26/11 memorial, completely destroying a cement bench that was on its way,” Dhuri told Mirror
