PUNE: Pimpri Chinchwad and Raigad police personnel on Monday afternoon intercepted a criminal, wanted in a dacoity case, in a joint operation after a two-hour-long chase stretching over 20km and he rammed his SUV into at least five vehicles, including police vans, while trying to evade arrest.The arrested criminal injured two people, including a police constable attached to Chakan South police, under Pimpri Chinchwad police commissionerate. Niroj Shaikh, the injured constable, lodged a complaint against the suspect.The suspect, Sukhdev Hanumant Naik (29) of Miraj in Sangli district, was arrested under sections 109 (attempt to murder), 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 281 (rash driving) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Ganpat Dhaygude, assistant inspector of Chakan South police and the investigating officer of the case, said Naik was a criminal on the records of Raigad police. A team from Raigad police learnt on Monday that he was at an eatery along Moshi-Chakan Road while tracking his location.A Raigad police team started tracking him in a vehicle. When Naik spotted the police vehicle around noon, he ran to his SUV, started it and drove towards Chakan recklessly. The police vehicle trailed him.“In an attempt to flee, Naik’s SUV knocked into some four-wheelers and two-wheelers on the way. One of the commuters, Avinash More (20) of Medankarwadi, suffered minor injuries,” Dhaygude said.Raigad police sought assistance from Pimpri Chinchwad police after Naik rammed their vehicle. A police team led by a senior police inspector of Chakan South police barricaded Chakan-Shikrapur road to stop Naik.“We parked police vehicles blocking the road at Wadgaon Ghenand. Naik’s SUV rammed one of the vehicles and he even tried to mow down policemen on the road,” Dhaygude said.He said Naik took a U-turn and again attempted to mow down policemen under his SUV at a high speed. Police constable Niroj Shaikh suffered minor injuries to his right hand while trying to evade the SUV. Other policemen had a narrow escape. “Police finally blocked the SUV’s path and nabbed Naik around 2pm,” the officer said.He said Naik was currently in the custody of Pimpri Chinchwad police. “We will hand him over to Raigad police after investigations,” he said.
