Railway officer's collegian son held in car theft case

Four young men, including a college student, son of a senior railway official here, were today arrested on charges of stealing a car from the posh Cuffe Parade area in South Mumbai, police said.

Chiranjeevi Prajapati (22), Ashish Binda (22), Vijay Thakur (23), and their 17-year-old friend Prakash (name changed to protect his identity as he is a minor) were caught today, police said.

Prakash was granted bail while the other three were remanded in police custody.

According to the police, Prakash wanted a luxury car to take his female college friends for a drive. So he asked his former driver, Ashish, to get him one.

"Demanding Rs6 lakh, Ashish agreed to get him a car and stole a Honda City from South Mumbai's Maker Tower building on Friday. He then handed it over to Prakash, who is the son of a senior railway official and studies in a reputed college," said sub-inspector Subhash Chavan of the Cuffe Parade police station.

Chavan said that on Friday, Ashish, with the help of his friend Chiranjeevi, had stolen the keys of the Honda City from the watchman's cabin at Maker Tower and given them to Prakash.

Chiranjeevi's father works in the same building as a driver.

Prakash later handed over the keys to Vijay to drive the car out from the building's parking area, he said. Vijay drove the car towards Badhwar Park.

Meanwhile, unable to find his car, the victim filed a police complaint. "When we scanned the CCTV footage of the building, Chiranjeevi was noticed moving suspiciously," Chavan said.

Chiranjeevi was summoned to the police station and grilled, he said, and soon enough he gave away the entire game.