Pune--Eighty four two-wheelers and six four wheelers were burnt by unidentified miscreants at five different premises including parking lots of residential societies in Sun City area on Sinhagad Road in Pune in the early hours of Sunday.
At least six persons, including some children, sustained minor burn injuries, police said.
The primary investigation showed by Pune city police revealed that the external fuel pipes of the bikes were removed and vehicles were set on fire by lighting the leaking petrol from the tanks.
The fire was reported to the Pune city fire brigade between 3 am and 4 am.
Senior inspector Balwant Kashid of Sinhagad Road police station said, “We have started checking the security cameras installed at various premises and in two of the those foogates, one person who came on a two wheeler can be seen setting the vehicles on fire.”
Based on the primary clues, police have detained one person and inquiry of some others was on.
Kshitija Phadke, a resident of Swaminarayan Society in Sun City said, “We woke up to loud screams of one of our neighbours. When we saw from our window, we could see that bikes in the building in front of ours were on fire. We later came to know that two wheelers in our parking lot were burning and we could hear loud sounds of explosion of tyres. As we tried to climb down the stairs, very hot fumes started coming up. I went to the upper floors with by two-year-old son. Four bikes owned by my family have been completely gutted.”
Similar incidents of vehicles being set on fire have taken place in areas like Pimpri-Chinchwad and Dhankawadi in the past. Probe in those incidents had revealed that it was act of members of local rival groups fighting with each other.
In case of Sunday’s event, senior inspector Kashid said the police teams were probing to the motive behind the act of arson at this scale.
INDIAN EXPRESS
