Highwaymen tamed after 12-hour chase

PUNE, Jan 8: In a marathon 12-hour chase typical of a Bollywood potboiler, the Khed rural police with the help of local villagers nabbed ...

PUNE, Jan 8: In a marathon 12-hour chase typical of a Bollywood potboiler, the Khed rural police with the help of local villagers nabbed two highway robbers on Wednesday morning. The arrests helped them to bust their 11-member gang involved in several robberies in four districts including Pune. Eight of the arrested have confessed to their involvement in the robberies. Their modus operandi included first stealing a car or a jeep by threatening and assaulting the owner.

Later, they used the vehicle for robberies on the highways. At least five vehicles and valuables collectively amounting to Rs nine lakh were stolen by them. All the robbers are in the age group of 18 to 21 and involved in the crime for three years. It all began with a sharp presence of mind shown by constable Sujat Ali Inamdar of the Khed police station. Around 6.30 pm on Tuesday, Inamdar spotted the duo sitting in a black and yellow coloured taxi near the ST stand in Khed. He grew suspicious of the duo after noticing that the number plate of the vehicle had been tampered by using some paint.

He immediately went up to them and started making enquiries. The duo claimed that they hailed from Mumbai and were on their way to Nashik. When Inamdar retorted that the road used by them was not the Mumbai-Nashik route and asked for the vehicle registration papers. The man at the steering wheel replied that the papers were at home. Inamdar sought to take them to the police station which they readily agreed to. He himself began to drive the car, while the duo sat on the rear seat.

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The duo whipped out their revolvers and threatened the constable. As Inamdar braked, they forced him out of the vehicle and sped away towards Chakan. Inamdar immediately rushed to the police station and informed his superiors around 7 pm. The police control unit was alerted and simultaneously the police at Chakan were directed to seal the road. A mobile police van began chasing the taxi. The duo, realising that the police might have sealed the road, reversed the taxi near a temple and again began moving towards Khed.

Meanwhile, a police team headed by Khed deputy superintendent of police Rajendra Dahale from Chakan who were in their jeep sighted the taxi and alerted the mobile van. As the chase was on the taxi was suddenly diverted in the direction of Kadus village. At this point, the police relayed a message to the village mohalla committees to block the road for the car. However near Donde village, the robbers left the car and escaped in the dark.

In the morning around 7, a villager from Agarmatha village came with a information that he had seen a person taking off his clothes. A police team in the vicinity of the village chased him and caught him with the help of a farm worker. He identified himself as Pankaj Dattatray Shete (18). His accomplice Baban Prakash Dhanvat (20), allegedly the head of the gang, was later traced at Donde village.