The city police have detained Anwar, 24, one of the passengers in the Mercedes that ran amok in the early hours of Thursday last, killing a 13-year-old boy and grievously injuring a 10-year-old girl.
With his detention, the police are expected to learn about the whereabouts of Shaji Purushothaman, who is said to have been at the wheel.
In what turned out to be an eventful day for them, investigators also unearthed an earlier road accident involving Shaji. A few years ago, a car driven by Shaji is alleged to have plunged from a city flyover and crashed into an autorickshaw, killing its driver. Later, he was involved in another case of rash driving
To nab Shaji, four police teams are camping in Bangalore and parts of Kerala. According to police sources, he is expected to be apprehended within a day or two. As immigration authorities have been alerted about his passport details, there is little possibility of his having fled the country, the police added.
Police sources, meanwhile, have denied that the photograph which appeared in The Hindu on Wednesday is that of Shaji. This picture appeared in its sister publication Business Line in 2010 and was sourced from the archives.
The interrogation of Anwar is also expected to reveal the identity and whereabouts of the fourth man in the car. Just like Anwar, he had fled the scene of accident.
In another development, ‘Kudirai’ Kumar, placed in judicial remand immediately after the accident, was taken into police custody on Wednesday. “When questioned, Kumar told us he was not an expert driver, especially when it came to high-end cars, even though he possessed a driving licence,” said a senior investigating officer.
