BMW

Rajesh Reddy

Rajesh Reddy, on trial for the drunk-driving spree that killed one in 2013, flew into a rage after hiswas rear-ended and banged up offending car after ‘hijacking’ itMy name is. Ask anyone in town, they will tell you about me” was the menacing message hurled at the owner-driver of a company car attached to a US-based software firm.In the ongoing season of spoilt brats, Rajesh L Reddy, who is no stranger to run-ins with the law, apparently got into a maniacal frenzy after his BMW got into a fender bender with a Toyota Etios in the small hours of May 5.The victim may not have been familiar with the name, but in 2013, on June 2, Rajesh, then 20, was driving his brand new Audi Q7 at breakneck speed under the influence of alcohol when he collided with an autorickshaw on MG Road near the Mayo Hall junction. One person was killed and two others were permanently crippled. Rajesh fled the spot in his vehicle. Despite CCTV footage and other evidence clearly pointing to Rajesh’s involvement, he was arrested only two days later.The incident, which took place in Ashoknagar traffic police limits, had also resulted in the suspension of then Ashoknagar traffic police inspector for reportedly registering a diluted case against Rajesh. Subsequently, the accused — who was pursuing his BBM from Christ College — spent a week in police custody before being granted bail.Now, a little less than a month before the second anniversary of the brutal accident, Rajesh has been arrested by Cubbon Park police.This time around, Rajesh was driving his father’s glitzy white BMW 520D bearing the registration number KA-53-MB-222 on Museum Road near the Ganesha Temple, a few metres away from Cubbon Park police station. The car is in the name of industrialist and politician Lokesh Reddy at the K R Puram RTO.Rajesh, who was reportedly speeding, is said to have braked suddenly, causing the tailing Etios (KA-01-AB-5241) to ram into his BMW. Irrespective of whose fault it was, Rajesh’s alleged instant justice is straight out of the movies.Reddy inspected the car and, on finding a slight damage to the bumper, allegedly began ranting at the driver of the Etios, identified as S Jagadeesh. Jagadeesh acknowledged it was his mistake and requested Reddy to sort out the matter at the nearest police station, but the youth reportedly was in no mood to listen.He walked up to Jagadeesh’s car, snatched the keys from the ignition, and demanded to see his driver’s licence. There was reportedly a woman employee in Jagadeesh’s cab at the time of the incident, and the driver immediately informed his superiors, who arranged for another car to pick up the employee.“While I was en route to dropping the employee, the BMW in front of me on Museum Road braked suddenly, and my car bumped into it from behind. The driver got out and began screaming at me, insisting I pay for the damage. I pleaded with him to accompany me to the police station and asked if he could claim insurance as I could not afford the damages. Meanwhile, my company supervisor, Nandish, and administrator, Jeevan, reached the spot and were trying to pacify the driver, who began shouting that his name was Rajesh Reddy and that everyone in the city knew him,” Jagadeesh told Bangalore Mirror.What Rajesh did next threw Jagadeesh and the others completely out of whack.He parked his BMW on the side of the road and reportedly got behind the wheel of the Etios. Making Jagadeesh sit in the passenger seat and the company supervisor and administrator at the back, the 22-year-old then allegedly began driving the car toward Adugodi in a rash and negligent manner.“He was frustrated that his car was damaged, but this was not the way to handle it. He began scraping my car against the median on the centre of the road and even knocking down the metal barricades, sneering at me as he damaged my car. He abused us and physically assaulted me by punching me all over my body while I was sitting next to him,” the victim said.As they reached the Adugodi signal, the petrified trio managed to jump out of the car, but Reddy continued driving. Jagadeesh then went straight to the Cubbon Park police station and filed a complaint against Rajesh. They later learnt that the banged up Etios had been parked near the Ganesha Temple in Koramangala.Claiming the damages to his car were around Rs 1.5 lakh, Jagadeesh regretted that the matter could have been resolved in a simple, non-violent manner.When contacted, the Cubbon Park police confirmed it was indeed the same Rajesh Reddy who had been arrested for driving the Audi Q7 in the hit-and-run case that killed one and injured two in June 2013.“A day after Jagadeesh’s complaint, Rajesh was arrested. RTO officials have inspected both the BMW and the Toyota Etios. Rajesh was booked under seven IPC sections - for voluntarily causing hurt, endangering life or personal safety of others, wrongful restraint, mischief causing damage), rash driving, etc.“Though the damage to my BMW is to the tune of Rs 6 lakh, I do not want to pursue the case as I want my son to do his master’s degree in London. A police case against him will make it difficult for him to go abroad and study. I will speak to the driver of the Etios and see if we can arrive at a compromise,” Rajesh’s father, Lokesh Reddy said. Lokesh’s words have a familiar ring. Following the Audi crash in 2013, the doting dad was quoted in the media as saying his son was a bright student and his hopes of going abroad the following year to pursue MBA were shattered after being “wrongly accused”.Reacting to the latest complaint against his son, Lokesh Reddy gave the same line. Like in 2013, Reddy completely denied his son’s involvement. “My son is not at fault. The charges made against him by the Toyota Etios driver are false and baseless.Rajesh never sat in the Etios and did not drive all the way to Koramangala or damage the car by crashing it into the median and barricades on the road as alleged by the complainant. My son has been arrested on a false complaint,” Lokesh told Mirror.Claiming the youth had been on his way to the airport with a friend in their BMW in the wee hours, the industrialist said the driver of the Etios bumped into Rajesh’s car from behind, causing him to lose control of the vehicle and hit the iron barricades off Museum Road.When asked about the gruesome accident on June 2, 2013, where Rajesh was responsible for killing the passenger of an autorickshaw and severely injuring two others, he maintained the case was in its trial stages.Rajesh Reddy is just 22, and unless he ‘accidentally’ caught one of the three flicks from another generation famous for crash vendetta, he is a self-inspired man. The 1980 Feroz Khan-directed and -starrer Qurbani had a scene where, enraged at the ill-treatment of a beggar cleaning a Benz owned by Amrish Puri, Khan sits behind the wheel of the car and crashes it out of shape. A year later, Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Kaalia had an identical scene (with the inimitable Jagdeep), unabashedly lifting it from Khan’s movie...or so the viewers thought. Being Bollywood, even the Qurbani scene was no original. It was a straight lift from a Hollywood flick, which went on to become a cult classic, called The Driver, which released in 1978 and starred Ryan O’Neal. Of course, Bollywood would term it ‘inspiration’, and not plagiarism.