Chennai: The Poonamalee traffic police have arrested six persons who were involved in illegal autorickshaw racing that they conducted on empty roads in the city. This issue came to light following the death of Prabhakar, 30, a mechanic and racer, who died in an accident during an illegal autorickshaw race conducted a week ago.
According to the police, Prabhakar is a prominent name in the illegal autorickshaw race circuit, and some of his friends were involved in a race on the Tambaram-Puzhal Bypass Road a few days ago. During the race, Prabhakar lost control of his vehicle and jammed into a truck near the toll gate on Madhuravoyal Bypass Road. During the initial stage, it was suspected to be an accident as the victim’s friend claimed that he had fallen from his bike, however upon further investigation by checking the victim’s phone, the police found out that they were involved in a race.
A special team was formed which was headed by Mr. A.V. Srinivasan, Poonamalee Traffic Investigation Inspector, started investigating the case. During the investigation, the police personal involved in the case found that autorickshaw racers and their friends had formed a WhatsApp group called VXM. While V Stood for Venkat, X stood for race and M was for Madarshah. All the details about the race including the time and which stretch of road is to be taken were discussed in this group.
The police personal, based on information gathered, arrested six persons including Madarshah and Venkat. A police officer said the autorickshaws generally race on the Madhuravoya Bypass Road, Vandalur-Minjur Road, and Urapakkam. This is a properly managed racing group as they have got into an agreement on the type of original spare parts to use, also if anyone flouted this, they would have to pay a fine amount.
The police officer said that the winner of the race would get Rs. 1,000 and this is among the highest in the circuit, as usually races are conducted for a few hundred rupees. While two auto-rickshaws are involved in the race, many others from the gang accompany them on bikes and cars too. They also shoot videos of the race.
Further investigation is on.
