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Police nab vehicle lifter after a Bollywood-style chase

BHUBANESWAR: It was virtually a scene out of a Bollywood thriller. Several teams of Bhubaneswar police had to drive at a breakneck speed following a thief driving away a brand new vehicle.

The chase began when a person dodged a driver of GMR Energy Private Limited and took control of a brand new Scorpio jeep at around 8.30 am on Wednesday morning.

Before anybody could comprehend what had happened, the thief moved out of company’s guesthouse campus in a flash.

Immediately, company’s other drivers with two Scorpio SUVs went behind the jeep. At the same time, police control room was informed about the incident.

"The accused was driving the vehicle at 140 km speed inside the city. He breached seven intercepts erected by us on his way. Two cows died coming under the wheels while four persons had a close shave," Commissioner of Police Bijay Kumar Sharma said addressing a press conference here on Wednesday.

Many police personnel who were in their tracksuits in the morning too joined the race but they could not catch hold of him. A road was even blocked by a truck but the accused managed to evade it.

Luckily the rear wheel of the SUV got burst near Tangi area, about 50 km from here, and the accused could not run away further. Police personnel following him chased down and overpowered him.

While Police Commissioner himself was coordinating the chase from police control room, Deputy Commissioner of Police Himanshu Lal had joined the race.

"Keeping in mind of the safety of people, we could hardly match the speed of the accused," Mr. Sharma said.

Interestingly, Police Control Room (PCR) van that followed the theft vehicle ran out of fuel in the midway. The accused must have traversed more than 150 kms inside the Bhubaneswar city in the chase similar to one depicted in Bolloywood flick Dhoom.

Initially "rumour" about his connection with the naxalite group added curiosity to whole incident. Mr. Sharma, however, said the accused, identified as Kalia Pradhan, belonged to Kandhamal district but there was no such clue indicating his involvement in naxalite movement.

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