A police inspector was shot at by a gang of miscreants, who made off with his car on Monday as he was driving along the Pune-Solapur road towards Daund Taluk.
The incident occurred in the morning near a Maharashtra State Electricity Board centre in Yavat, around 50 km from the city.
The inspector, Mahesh Telangji, newly-attached to the Principal Police Training Centre (also known as the State Reserve Police Force centre) in Nanveej in Daund Taluk, was driving in his Maruti Swift (MH 12 NU 9244) car when a group of four men in a Maruti Ertiga overtook him while signalling that the metallic disk (or hubcap) of one of his car tyres had allegedly come off.
As Mr. Telangji stepped out to inspect the supposed damage to his vehicle, the Ertiga stopped ahead of him too. Out stepped two men from the car.
One of them shot him twice, hitting his right leg and pinning him helplessly to the spot as the other man made off with his car.
Superintendent of Police (Pune Rural) Suvez Haque, along with senior officers, rushed to the spot of the assault on hearing the news.
Police sources said that a bullet was lodged in Mr. Telangji’s leg which prompted the injured policeman, initially undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Yavat, to be shifted immediately to Pune’s Sassoon hospital for further treatment.
Mr. Telangji, who had been posted at the Nanveej training centre just two months back after a stint in Gadchiroli district, had come to spend the weekend at his home in suburban Manjari Budruk. He left his home early in the morning to cover the 70-odd km to the training school in Daund when the mishap occurred.
A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code has been lodged at Yavat police station and further investigations are on.