19-year-old arrested for damaging police car, two of his accomplices flee

19-year-old arrested by Bandra police for damaging a police car during late-night superbike racing. Two accomplices escaped. Charged with multiple offenses.

MUMBAI: A 19-year-old was arrested by Bandra police on Monday for damaging a police car, while two of his accomplices managed to escape. The young men were indulging in late-night superbike racing when the police intervened. They attempted to flee from the police and ended up colliding with the car.”

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According to the police, they were conducting a crackdown to catch bikers who were racing on superbikes with blaring horns, going against the flow of traffic at the triangle point near Western Express Highway on Sunday night. Around 3 am on Monday, a biker on a Yamaha superbike, travelling from the opposite direction, presumably lost control of the vehicle and collided with the police car at the spot.

“The bike collided with the back door on the right side of the vehicle, shattering the glass panel due to the impact,” said an officer from Bandra police who was present during the operation. “The driver of the bike transferred to another bike driven by another individual, and they all fled the scene before we could catch them.”

Two other bikers who were accompanying the main suspect sped away. However, the police managed to apprehend one biker identified as Shoeb Khan, 19, from Govandi.

All the bikers involved have been charged under sections 279 (rash and negligent driving), 336 (endangering human life), and 427 (mischief causing damage to others’ property) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

“Initially, we would have only charged them for rash driving, which endangers the lives of others on the road. However, damaging government property is a more severe offense. The one person we were able to catch was sent to judicial custody on Monday morning,” said the officer. “We have also noted down the license plate numbers of the other bikers and are on the lookout for the yet unidentified individuals.”