Venkat Patil

MUMBAI: High drama ensued when three inebriated youths drove away with a traffic police constable. The incident took place near Chedda Nagar in Chembur on Tuesday morning when the cop asked the trio, who had halted their car and dozed off in the middle of the road, to move to the side.

The 15-minute chase ended on the Eastern Express Highway at Vikhroli when the abductors stopped the vehicle.

A team led by assistant commissioner of police, Venkat Patil, immediately overpowered the trio and handed them over to Tilak Nagar police. The abducted constable, Vikas Munde, said the trio had beaten him up.

The youths were identified as Viraj Shinde, Gurav Punjwani and Raj. While Shinde and Punjwani were placed under arrest, Raj managed to escape. Police said the three are from well-to-do families in Thane. They had come to party at a beer bar on Grant Road.

The accused were booked under various charges and also sent for a medical test, said senior inspector Sushilkumar Kamble.

According to the police, Munde and his two colleagues found a stationary Honda City car in the middle of the road, blocking traffic.

"I went closer and found the three occupants had dozed off. I sat in the vacant seat behind the driver and yelled at him to move to the side. Instead, he took off at high speed, while the two others started beating me up," Munde told TOI.

