PUNE: A quarrel that started over a tractor operator not letting three car drivers overtake him, led to rioting and firing incident around 8.15pm on Saturday at Pargaon near Jejuri in Purandar taluka. No one was reported injured in the firing.
Five members of a farmer’s family were injured in a brutal assault by 12 men, mostly criminals on police records, from Kapurhol, Narayangaon and Bhilarewadi in Bhor taluka, besides, Veer and other villages in Purandar.
Soon after the incident, the Pune rural police launched an elaborate combing operation in Bhor and Purandar villages and managed to detain eight of the alleged assailants while a hunt continued for the remaining four, including the person, who opened fire at a tractor being driven by the complainant Sachin Memane’s cousin, Ganesh.
A police case was registered early on Sunday morning and the combing operation continued till late Sunday evening. Earlier on Saturday afternoon, the Memane’s father and other members of the family were travelling in a tractor being operated by his cousin, from Jejuri to Pargaon, when the suspects, who were travelling behind in three cars, honked several times to let them overtake the vehicle. The tractor operator took some time in giving them the way at an opportune moment on the narrow road. The suspects lost their patience in the process, the police said. They started quarrelling with the Memane family and left the spot.
Inspector Sunil Mahadik of the Jejuri police station told TOI, “Around 8.15pm, the 12 suspects, most of them in the age group of 19-23 years and armed with stones, sharp weapons and rods, came back to Pargaon and barged into the Memane’s home to attack the family members present there. They also created a ruckus in the area. The complainant’s cousin came to know about the ruckus and he drove his tractor towards Memane’s house. On spotting the tractor, one of the suspects opened fire in the direction of the vehicle. The suspects then fled in their cars.”
“In the assault, the family members sustained cuts on their hands and head injuries,” police said. A case has been registered on the charges of attempt to murder, rioting, voluntarily causing grievous hurt, and criminal intimidation against the 12 men.
