Cop clings on to bootlegger’s car for 60 km in Rajkot

RAJKOT: In a scene reminiscent of Bollywood potboilders of 1980s, a cop jumped on to the back of an SUV being driven by a bootlegger and kept hanging on the moving vehicle for 60 kilometres.
The incident occurred near Mansarovar Society at Aji Dam where police had received a tip-off that an SUV was parked there with Indianmade foreign liquor (IMFL) bottles inside on early Sunday morning.
Sneh Bhadarka, constable with Rajkot crime branch, drove to the spot in his car. “When I asked the driver of the SUV to stop there and identified myself as a cop, the driver drove the SUV in reverse, trying to run over me. In order to save myself, I jumped on to the back of the SUV and grabbed the rear door. The driver did not stop and drove for nearly 60 kilometres, while I kept myself hanging,” said Bhadarka.
“Leaving the door, I jumped into the carriage of the SUV, where IMFL bottles had been stored. I saw a spanner and shattered the glass on the side of the driver’s seat. I asked the driver to stop, but he kept driving, thinking that he would make me fall off the vehicle. Then at Karmal Pipaliya village of Kotada Sangani taluka in Rajkot district, the driver drove by the side of the road, rammed into a tree and ran away, having abandoned the SUV,” narrated Bhadarka. The police seized a total of 81bottles of IMFL and 139 beer cans, worth Rs 42,250. The police also found a driving license in the name of Ramesh Garaiya from the SUV, following which the police have launched a manhunt.