Santacruz pedestrian mowed down: Teens stole car from posh address a day earlier, say police

The Toyota Corolla car involved in a road accident that killed a 56-year-old man in Santacruz east last month had been stolen from a posh building in the same area just a day earlier by two teenage boys, one of whom was behind the wheel at the time of the accident, said police.

The boys, aged 16 and 17, allegedly sneaked into the building at 3 am on March 30 while the guard was asleep. Police said the well-to-do residents of the building had left their car keys in a drawer in the guard’s cabin. “The guard was asleep when the juveniles opened the drawer and stole six keys,” said Sub-Inspector Vinayak Jadhav of Santacruz police station.

These were an Audi, a BMW, a Honda, a Mercedes, a Porsche and a Toyota Corolla. “The boys could not understand the mechanism to open the other cars, but since they managed to get the Corolla open, they drove away with it,” said Jadhav.

The theft was discovered the following day when the owner found his car missing. Police scanned CCTV footage from the building’s cameras and identified the boys, who live in Santacruz east and have a prior record of stealing vehicles.

Before police could track them down, however, the 17-year-old had killed ex-armyman D M Todaskar, who was walking near P&T Colony early on March 31. Police claimed that the juvenile was driving on the wrong side of the road and panicked when he spotted the pedestrian. Passersby rushed Todaskar to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead, and handed over the juvenile to the police.

The police probe also revealed that the teens had stolen five other scooters and motorbikes in Bandra, Goregaon, Juhu, Santacruz and Vile Parle over the last three months.

Shriram Koregaonkar, senior inspector of Santacruz police station, said the juveniles would target unlocked two-wheelers and take them on joyrides.

The juveniles were handed over to their families after being charged with the crimes, said police.