Drunk retired ACP crashes car into tempo in Navi Mumbai, booked; cops flag 'police' nameplate misuse on pvt car

NAVI MUMBAI: A case has been registered against a 58-year-old retired assistant commissioner of police (ACP) from Mumbai Police department for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol and ramming his car into a tempo on a busy road in Navi Mumbai's Karave area on Saturday evening. No one was injured in the incident.

NRI Coastal police have booked the accused, Nerul resident Arun Pokharkar, under the relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Motor Vehicles Act for rash and negligent driving under the influence of alcohol after his medical test at NMMC hospital in Vashi confirmed that he was driving drunk. Pokharkar was not arrested, but served with a notice under the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita as per the provisions of the law.

The video of the inebriated accused being confronted and thrashed by angry bystanders has gone viral on social media.

Devendra Pol, senior inspector of NRI Coastal police station, said Pokharkar's old police identity card as senior inspector of Mumbai Police was found in the MUV, along with the police nameplate near the windscreen. Pokharkar was attached to Yellowgate police station as senior inspector and was promoted to ACP days before his retirement. "Though Pokharkar recently retired as ACP, he was misusing the police nameplate by displaying it in a private vehicle, which is illegal. Accordingly, relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act were invoked against Pokharkar," said Pol, adding that they did not find any liquor bottles in his vehicle.

"Retired cops indulging in drunk driving bring disrepute to the police department," Pol said.

In August last year, a 42-year-old police constable, Ravindra Pawar, was booked for driving his car rashly and at high speed under the influence of alcohol, and hitting a biker in Ghansoli. The biker, Vicky Uchgavkar (39), and a woman riding pillion sustained minor injuries in the collision, which caused damage to the bike. The incident was video-recorded by the dash cam in a car behind the constable's vehicle and went viral on social media.

Passersby intercepted Pawar's car ahead at a junction and informed Rabale police station. A police team reached the spot and detained Pawar, who was visibly inebriated. Inside his car, they allegedly found a plastic bottle containing liquor.