With nothing more than a few shards of a licence plate, the Halasuru traffic police tracked down a taxi driver who rammed into two beat constables on their motorcycle and dragged the two-wheeler for one kilometre on 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar on Friday night.
The driver, Salman Pasha, was arrested 12 hours after the accident. He had dropped off a passenger and was driving home when he knocked down Head Constable Dinesh H.S. and Srishaila Gotyala who were on patrolling duty. The duo fell down and sustained injuries while the taxi driver sped away dragging the bike.
Passers-by took the injured policemen to a private hospital and alerted their colleagues. At the site of the accident, Halasuru traffic Inspector Vijay H. recovered a few pieces of the registration number plate and a part of the bumper.
“Using them, Vijay got some information on the registration number of the vehicle. He took the pieces of the bumper to a car showroom to identify the make of the vehicle,” said a police officer.
The police examined CCTV footage to confirm the make of the vehicle and then approached the RTO. “Ten taxis operating in Bengaluru fit the profile. Teams were dispatched to the registered addresses of the drivers,” the officer added.
One team approached Salman Pasha, 28, in Banaswadi. Police say he confessed. In his statement, Salman told the police that he got scared after the accident and returned to his house. He did not inform the owner of the vehicle fearing that he would lose the job.
“He has been arrested for hit-and-run, dangerous driving and also under various sections of the Motor Vehicles Act,” Narayana, DCP, Traffic (East) said. Head Constable Dinesh sustained multiple fractures while Srishaila was discharged after being treated for multiple injuries.
