PUNE: Shimla office chowk on Ganeshkhind Road on Friday;
Chandni Chowk on Thursday. Carjackers struck in the city on two consecutive days, triggering posers on the safety on roads in wee hours.
Around 3am on Friday, three persons issued threats to the driver of a cab aggregator and drove away in his compact sedan worth around Rs 7 lakh. Two cellphones of the driver were also in the vehicle. The cab driver, Govind Khandekar (36), of Kesnand later went to the Shivajinagar police station and lodged a complaint.
About 24 hours earlier, a cab operator was robbed of his car and cellphone near Chandni chowk.
Sub-inspector D S Shinde of the Shivajinagar police said Khandekar was the driver of a car attached to a cab aggregating company. After dropping passengers in the early hours of Friday, Khandekar had stopped his vehicle near the
All India Radio on Ganeshkhind Road, barely 100m away from the Shimla office chowk, to relieve himself. “Before he could return to his car, a four-wheeler with three persons inside stopped near him,” Shinde said.
Shinde said one of them, carrying a sharp knife, got down from the vehicle and threatened to kill Khandekar. “He told the cab driver to stay back and took charge of the wheel of Khandekar’s vehicle. Both the cars were driven towards Sancheti hospital. Khandekar’s two cellphones were in the cab,” the sub-inspector said.
After receiving Khandekar’s complaint, Shivajinagar police alerted the police control room and conducted nakabandi operations in the city, but failed to trace the robbers, said another officer of the Shivajinagar police.
The officer said the police had started collecting footage of
CCTV cameras near the Shimla office chowk and Sancheti hospital. “We do not know whether the robbers drove away towards Shivajinagar court, Yerawada or Jangli Maharaj Road,” the officer said.
Stark similarities
An officer of the crime branch told TOI that the robbers were travelling in another four-wheeler in both the
carjacking cases. They targeted the cab drivers relieving themselves on roadside after parking cars. “In both the cases, the drivers were threatened with sharp weapons,” the officer said.
He said there was a possibility of involvement of the same gang in both the carjackings. “The crime branch, too, has started collecting information about the robbers,” the officer said.
Representative image
