Driver robbed of vehicle on Katraj-Dehu Road bypass

PUNE: Four men travelling in a car threatened and robbed a 40-year-old cab driver of his vehicle and mobile phone at Narhe on the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass on Wednesday afternoon.

Rahatni resident Dattatray Gadhwe, who was driving the self-owned cab, later lodged a complaint with the Sinhagad road police. Gadhwe had been hired by a Hinjewadi-based Information Technology (IT) firm to pick up and drop its employees.

Police sub-inspector Girish Sonawane said, “Gadhwe was assigned to drop the morning shift employees of an IT company in Hinjewadi. After dropping the last of the employees at Narhe around 3.30pm, Gadhwe started driving back to Hinjewadi along the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass. On the way, he halted at Bhumkar chowk. At this point, a car headed from Katraj to Warje, stopped before Gadhwe’s cab.”

“Four men travelling in the car started threatening Gadhwe with dire consequences and surrounded him in such a way that no passers-by would realize what was happening Gadhwe submitted to their demand and two suspects got into his cab and drove away from the spot,” the investigating officer added.

The police suspect that the four men may be from Kolhapur. “The suspects appear to have driven the cab to Kolhapur. We have obtained the registration number of the car that was used in the robbery,” Sonawane said. Police are also looking at CCTV footage from different toll booths located on Pune — Kolhapur highway, he said.