A mysterious autorickshaw lying abandoned in a busy Colaba street on Friday morning sparked panic among citizens. Local residents claimed that the rickshaw, which has a Rajasthan registration number, was driven by three foreign nationals. However, the police claim that their inquiry did not reveal involvement of any foreign national.
"At around 9.30am, we saw the vehicle parked at JA Allana street. Since autos are not allowed to ply within city limits and the vehicle had a Rajasthan registration number, we made inquiries in the vicinity about it," said Subhash Motwani of Clean Heritage Colaba Resident Association (CHCRA).
Inquiries made by Motwani and another resident Pervez Cooper revealed that a local laundry man, Prithvi Kanojia, had seen a few foreigners driving the auto in the wee hours of Friday.
"Around 12.30am, I saw at least three foreign nationals coming out of the rickshaw, driven by one of them. They were unloading goods from it. They then went to a nearby missionary and kept the auto parked on the road," Kanojia told dna.
"I interacted with a foreigner who was put up at the hotel and asked him how they got an autorickshaw till Colaba. The foreigner, who claimed to be from England, got frightened and left," said Cooper.
The residents allege that the local police have a lackadaisical approach as far as keeping tab on suspicious vehicles is concerned. "When brought to the notice of Colaba police, an officer told us that no towing van was available as they have been put for IPL duty. It took two hours to get the auto removed from the spot," said Motwani.
"We got a call from Colaba police and they wanted our crane. We provided them the crane immediately," said police inspector Abdul Shaikh from Colaba traffic division.
"We made inquiries with the missionary where the foreigners are staying. So far, our inquiries did not indicate involvement of any foreign national. We are still probing the case and are gathering CCTV camera footage of the area to ascertain who parked the vehicle at the spot at night. We are also getting in touch with the Rajasthan regional transport office," said senior police inspector Rameshwar Suple of Colaba police station.
