The three friends allegedly also assaulted and abused the cab driver, who got out at the sight of a police patrol van that gave chase; the trio were held later
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A trio of friends looking for fun got more than they bargained for recently, when panic-struck, they stole an Ola cab and were arrested for it. It didn't help that they were drunk.
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Last Friday, 22-year-old Ola cab driver Ramlakhan Patel started work at midnight, and around 2 am he received a call from a customer. The cab was booked from Ghatkopar to Lamington Road, and he was asked to come to a bar.
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Three idiots
"There were three passengers, one sat beside me, and the others got into the back seat. When we reached the Sion flyover, a person sitting behind asked me to take the flyover, while another asked me to go below it," said Ramlakhan. "All of them were drunk, so I didn't pay much attention. But the same thing happened at the Parel flyover. Soon the person sitting besides me started abusing me, saying "Bahut attitude dikha rahe ho kya?" (Are you giving us attitude?). But I kept quiet," said Ramlakhan.
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He said the passengers then told him to stop the car near the Byculla zoo. When he did so, those sitting behind allegedly started beating and abusing him, and insisted that he take the Byculla bridge.
Police, bachao!
Scared by then, Ramlakhan was looking for help. When they reached the Bata Junction, Nagpada, he saw a police patrol van nearby. "Ramlakhan stopped and got out of the car, crying for help," said a police officer from Nagpada Police station.
"But the trio, frightened on seeing us, fled with the cab. Our patrol van gave chase, but they managed to drive away," he added.
A case was registered against three unidentified persons. And on the same day the trio were traced. "The number was registered in the name of a person from Ghatkopar. He told us that he had given his SIM card to his friend Nishant Patel (31), a resident of Malad. A team detained Nishant at his home, and he revealed that Damodar Chavhan (31) and Satish Gaikwad (21) were with him when incident happened. Nishant works at a call center. Damodar lives in Vashi. An MBA graduate, he works in a private firm," said an cop.
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"Satish lives in Ghatkopar and works as an estate broker. The three of them claimed to have done it under the influence of alcohol," he added.
They have been booked under Sections 392 (robbery), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (breach of peace), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. They were remanded in police custody.
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