Cops searching for cabbie who ‘stole’ towed vehicle by replacing clamped tyre with stepney
The accused driver replaced the clamped tyre with the spare and drove off the police parking lot in Colaba in a bid to avoid paying for the traffic violation (Representational Image, Courtesy: Veeresh Malik)
Traffic police are on the lookout for a cab driver who allegedly visited their parking lot in Colaba, changed the clamped tyre of a towed car with a stepney and drove off in a bid to avoid paying the fine for the traffic violation.
According to reports, a traffic police team found a Wagon R cab parked in a no-parking zone in Colaba on November 1.
The tourist car, which had unpaid fines of Rs 3,500, was subsequently towed to the traffic chowky near fashion street, parked in the lot and its wheel clamped.
Later, on November 4, officials found the car missing from the lot and filed a theft complaint with Azad Maidan Police.
During the investigation, police scanned the CCTV footage which showed the driver removing the clamped tyre, replacing it with a spare and driving off with the clamped tyre thrown in the boot.
With the help of the registration number, officials traced the owner of the tourist car.
The vehicle was registered with a travel agency, which was quick to send the car back over to the traffic chowky. The firm also cleared the parking fine, following which the clamp was removed from the stepney.
Since the agency was not at fault, Azad Maidan police are in the process of filing a C Summary report (case neither true nor false) to close the FIR against the vehicle owner.
However, they have registered a new theft case under section 379 of the IPC against the driver and are currently on the lookout for him.
