Santosh Mane mayhem hits Pune again, twice

Within a month of the gruesome incident of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) driver Santosh Mane going berserk and mowing down 8 people and injuring 32 in the city after hijacking a state transport (ST) bus, two separate incidents were reported of drivers going on allegedly a similar joyride in Pune on Tuesday night.

Although, no fatalities were reported, several people were injured in both the accidents.

The first incident took place in Camp, when a drunken driver, Rushabh Bhalchandra Talekar, 33, of Gurgaon East (Mumbai), sped off on Indigo (MH-06 AZ 8509) from Babajan Dargah to Kohinoor Chowk through Bhopla Chowk.

However, from here he took a wrong turn and drove towards the one-way leading towards Pulgate, damaging 4 four-wheelers, 3 two-wheelers and injuring three people on the 50-metre stretch.

The police and public managed to intercept the driver when the vehicle reached Aahar Hotel, near Fashion Street. An angry mob severely thrashed Talekar, who had visited the city to drop passengers.

In the second incident, a Scorpio allegedly hit the barricades put up by the police near Bopodi and drove towards Mumbai, on the old Mumbai-Pune highway.

The driver is reported to have also hit several vehicles, before a quick response team (QRT) of the police managed to intercept the driver near the Nehrunagar area of Pimpri on the highway. No reports of casualty were reported.