BHOPAL: A speeding SUV borne drunk driver allegedly hit a police vehicle allotted to assistant commissioner of police (Hanumanganj) in Jehangirabad locality in inebriated condition on Wednesday late night and accelerated the vehicle in a bid to run away from the spot.
He hit 3 more two-wheeler-borne people and then fled towards Aishbagh. Police vehicles including cops on bikes and Dial-100 FRVs of Jehangirabad, Aishbagh and one more police station chased the accused driver for around 4-5km and then the accused stopped after ramming into a 26-year-old vendor and his handcart.
Locals gathered in large numbers and thrashed the accused drunk driver. They vandalised his SUV. Police somehow managed to save him from the enraged crowd and took him to Jehangirabad police station where two cases on charges of rash driving and injuring people were registered against him. Another case was registered against him at Aishbagh police station on the injured vendor's complaint.
Police said that the SUV had Mumbai registration number written over it and belonged to a Mumbai based famous film director's daughter. The accused works as the film maker's driver. Police were verifying the SUV registration details with the transport department.
Jehangirabad police said that constable Deepak Jamnoriya, a resident of Nehru Nagar, is posted as driver of ACP Hanumanganj's driver.
Deepak told TOI that on Wednesday night, he left the officer at his home and was going to park the vehicle at the control room. ACP's gunman was also present with him in the vehicle. When they reached near PHQ in Jehangirabad around 11.30pm, a speeding SUV coming from the opposite side in the wrong lane suddenly hit their vehicle from behind. He tried to avoid the accident and took his vehicle to the side of the road but the accused drunk driver rammed into his vehicle.
Deepak said that after hitting the police vehicle the SUV driver sped the vehicle and hit a scooter-borne couple Anjali and
Rahul. After hitting them, the accused fled the spot towards Jinsi Square in his vehicle. He went to the couple and saw that the girl was injured so he asked them to approach Jehangirabad police station.
Deepak said that the drunk driver fled towards Jinsi Square where he hit Aqib Khan, a resident of Neem Wali Sadak, in front of Crescent School around 11.40pm. The SUV driver did not stop and fled towards Jinsi Square.
Deepak said that teams of Jehangirabad police and Aishbagh police reached the spot on getting information of the accidents from locals. They too started chasing the accused SUV driver. He hit parked vehicles on the way and fled towards Bag Dilkusha in Aishbagh. Here he rammed into Umesh Prajapati's handcart. Umesh was returning home and he sustained severe injuries. Locals gathered at the spot and nabbed the drunk SUV driver. They thrashed him and vandalised the SUV. The cops who were chasing him somehow managed to save him from the angry crowd.
Deepak said that the accused identified as Ayaz Khan, a resident of Bag Farhat Afza in Aishbagh, was so drunk that he was not able to speak properly. He entered the wrong lane and hit the vehicles. He murmured that the SUV belonged to a Mumbai based film maker and he was his driver. The SUV was registered at Mumbai RTO. Subsequently, he was handed over to Jehangirabad police.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (Zone-1) Ankit Jaiswal said that police have registered three separate FIRs against the accused SUV driver Ayaz Khan including two FIRs at Jehangirabad and one at Aishbagh police station. The details of the SUV registration number were being investigated.