dna exclusive: Navi Mumbai Mayor Sagar Naik's Audi S4 scorches Palm Beach Road at 223kmph

The first citizen of Navi Mumbai, mayor Sagar Naik, has broken the speed barrier on Palm Beach Road and gone on to boast about it on Instagram.

Speed freak Naik, who zips around in his private Audi S4 sports car late at night, has posted a grab of the speedometer at 223kmph on his profile on the social media platform. The caption sagardnaik #PalmBeachRoad irshie killed ittttt @sagardnaik has landed Naik in a spot.

When dna contacted him about the photo, a defensive Naik said: “The photo is a grab from a YouTube video and was uploaded just for fun to trick my friends into thinking that I was driving at such a high speed, particularly one friend who has uploaded a similar photo of his speeding exploits.”

Naik said he was not even driving this car. “I have my official vehicle in which I move about,” he said, referring to the Skoda sedan for the first citizen of the satellite city. “We have installed speed cameras on Palm Beach Road and there is no question of speeding. I have never broken any rule,” he maintained.

Not aware that his posts on Instagram are accessible even to others besides his 51 followers, Naik said that not only will he remove the speedometer’s photograph, but will also change the settings of his Instagram account to block access to the public.

Incidentally, the photo of the speedometer got him 17 likes from his followers.

It is ironic that the mayor was speeding on the very road that is notorious for accidents because of speeding and has claimed hundreds of lives in the past few years.

“We have been cracking down on speedsters, be it bikers or car drivers. This happens only late in the night or in the wee hours, especially during weekends,” a senior traffic police officer said. It is a blow to police efforts to create awareness about safe driving when the mayor himself zips around at crazy speeds, he said.

The official speed limit on Palm Beach Road is 60kmph.