11 cars seized for speeding on Coastal Road

MUMBAI: In a first-of-its-kind operation, police have seized and impounded 11 cars, including a few SUVs, for speeding on the Mumbai Coastal Road, a late-night practice that is fast becoming a menace. The action was triggered by a video shot by an alert citizen driving south-bound in the coastal road tunnel, when several sports cars overtook her at speeds far exceeding the official limit on Thursday night. 'We were driving from Kemps Corner towards South Mumbai after dinner when the cars dangerously overtook us from the left. They were racing and, as one followed another, I captured them on video and posted it on social media. I am grateful the Mumbai Police has taken note,' said Sana Khan, a former professor. Most of the speeding vehicles in Khan's clip were expensive sports cars such as Ferraris and Lamborghinis. 'We have identified them using CCTV footage and will seize them,' said an officer with the Marine Drive police. He said the owner of one of the vehicles is a prominent manufacturer of plastic furniture. However, the 11 seized vehicles do not feature in Khan's September 3 video clip recorded at around 11:00pm. Rather, are vehicles that breached the coastal road speed limit of 60kmph on August 26, although the crackdown took place after Khan's clip went viral on social media. 'Using CCTV footage, we identified 16 vehicles that were speeding and registered an FIR. We seized 11 of them at the weekend and are tracing the remaining five,' said a police officer. The impounded vehicles – among them a Fortuner (Toyota), Hector (Morris Garages), Alcazar (Hyundai), Honda City and Mahindra XUV – are currently in the Vidhav Bhavan parking lot. Police have registered two separate FIRs – one relating to the 11 impounded vehicles, and a separate one against the drivers of the cars from the September 3 incident. Cases have been registered under sections 125 (rash or negligent act that endangers human life or the personal safety of others) and 281 (rash or negligent driving on a public way) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and section 184 (driving dangerously) of the Motor Vehicles Act. The FIRs have been registered suo motu by the police.