With gold and gun, biker chases TikTok fame, sparks cop hunt

MUMBAI: Adding social media craze to the deadly combo of alcohol and driving is never a good idea, a 30-year-old Kurla resident has learnt the hard way. What started as binge drinking with friends led to a midnight plan for making a viral TikTok video using a “toy gun” and ended with Sunil Madgunde landing behind bars on Saturday after a long police hunt.
The drama started around 3.45 am Friday when a security guard at a cargo yard parking lot at Annawadi near Hotel Leela in Andheri (East) saw two bikes speeding into the premises. “I shouted at them, but they ignored it. After going a little further, they realised it was a dead end and made an about-turn,” the security guard, Satyaveer Sharma, told TOI.

“However on their way out, a pillion rider jumped off a bike and charged at me. He kept a gun to my temple and said ‘dalu kya goli... Maar daloonga (Shall I empty the bullet... I will kill you)’ even as his accomplices said ‘Bhai, chod do (Bro, leave it)’. They left the place on noticing that they were caught in a CCTV camera,” he said, adding that two security guards who were with him fled the spot on seeing the man brandishing a gun. The one thing Sharma remembered about the gunman was that he was wearing a lot of gold ornaments.
A shaken Sharma called his employer who asked him to lodge a complaint. Based on his complaint, a police team supervised by DCP Dahiya launched a hunt on Friday evening. The police went through 12 CCTV cameras in the area, which showed the bikes heading towards Andheri Kurla Link Road. “On getting a clue of the gunman, we inquired with the locals about the gunman captured in the CCTV. This helped us to get Madgunde’s Facebook profile. The guard identified Madgunde from the photo because of the gold ornaments,” said an officer from Sahar police station.
“When the team went to Kurla to nab him they were armed as he had a gun,” the officer added. They combed Kurla East Makadwala chawl for four hours. “As the team was taking a long time, the cops waiting for them started fearing if there was an ‘incident’ and alerted VB Nagar police as a precautionary measure.
Thought the police arrested him without any resistance, Madgunde claimed he was drunk and only wanted to make a TikTok video after scaring the guard. “We have to recover the gun. Madgunde claimed that it was a toy gun and that he had thrown it away. We got his past record which shows that he was arrested in Kurla, VB Nagar and Akola for assault cases in 2002, 2014 and 2017,” said an officer.
According to Madgunde, the incident happened when they were going to a friend’s house in Andheri after drinking at Bhel Bazar in Kurla (West).
Madgunde has been booked for criminal intimidation and under the Arms Act along with his three friends who are on the run.