KRISHNAGIRI: A man who was allegedly smuggling liquor and gutkha products from Bengaluru in a car hit a head constable at the Jujuwadi checkpost near Hosur on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border on Sunday and drove the vehicle for four km with the cop clinging onto the bonnet before he was chased, intercepted and arrested. The arrested man has been identified as Yarap Bhasha, 34, the Kalekunda of Karnataka. The incident happened on Sunday evening when a team from the Hudco police station was checking vehicles. Hudco police inspector Syed Mubarak said Bhasha did not stop the car when police indicated to him to stop it. The car hit constable Rajiv Gandhi. “The head constable clung onto the bonnet of the car. Bhasha drove the car on the Bengaluru-Chennai National Highway for four km with the head police on the bonnet,” the inspector said. A team led by inspector Syed Mubarak chased the car and intercepted it with the help of the public in the Hosur Dargah area. The man allegedly tried to hit policemen near the Hosur Dargah area too. But the car, instead, hit a parapet on the road, causing a leg fracture to head constable Rajiv Gandhi who was clinging onto the bonnet. “We found 390 kg of banned gutkha items worth Rs 2.20 lakh and 48 packets of Karnataka liquor (Tetra packs) in the car. We seized the car, the gutkha and the liquor,” said the inspector. A case was registered. The man was remanded in judicial custody and lodged in the Salem Central Prison. The constable was admitted to Government Hospital in Hosur. CCTV footage of the incident shows the head constable being carried on the bonnet of the car. Further inquiries were on, police said.
