Armed gang vandalises 19 vehicles in Pune night rampage, three held

Despite the Pune police's claims of a crackdown on hooligans, an armed gang went on a rampage in the city's Parvati and Sahakarnagar areas. In the early hours of Saturday the 12th, the gang used sharp weapons to smash a total of 19 vehicles. They targeted every vehicle they came across, spreading fear across the area and terrifying residents who were asleep.

Two separate cases have been registered in this matter at the Parvati and Sahakarnagar police stations. Police have arrested Soham Harish Chauhan, 20, a resident of Dhankawadi, while two minor boys have been taken into custody. The police's initial assessment is that the accused may have carried out the vandalism either under the influence of intoxicants or with the intention of spreading terror.

To identify the accused, police scanned footage from around 40 CCTV cameras in the area. Crime Branch Unit Two Police Inspector Rahul Khilare, along with his team members Tejashri Pawar, Kundan Shinde, Shankar Nevse, Yogesh Mandhare and Ujwal Mokashi, caught the accused. According to information, the accused first targeted three vehicles in the Parvati Gavthan area, then the three of them moved towards Sahakarnagar. Around Taljai Lane No. 3, the last stop at Taljai, the crematorium, Rajmudra Society and Pring Hill Society, they vandalised a total of 16 vehicles. Armed with weapons, the accused smashed windscreens and other parts of the vehicles and spread fear in the area. Residents woke up on hearing the sound of the vandalism and some rushed out of their homes, but by then the accused had fled. On receiving news of the incident, a resident informed the police control room, following which teams from Sahakarnagar and Parvati police stations along with the Crime Branch reached the spot. The Crime Branch Unit Two team arrested one accused in the case and took his two associates into custody. Police are also investigating whether the accused had entered the jurisdiction of Bharti Vidyapeeth police station after the vandalism.

Incidents of vehicles being vandalised are not new to Pune. Gangs that take to the streets armed with weapons to spread terror, and the growing involvement of minors in crime, remain a serious challenge before the police. Despite preventive action, attendance checks, counselling and a crackdown on habitual offenders, incidents of vehicle vandalism have not stopped. Action under the MCOCA law has previously been taken against gangs involved in vandalising vehicles, arson and spreading terror. But the recurrence of such incidents even after such action has raised questions about the police's own preventive system.