Caught driving drunk, couple create a scene

A couple driving back home in a drunken stupor created quite a scene at the Hebbal flyover in northern Bengaluru as the traffic police tried to rein them in, a senior officer said.

Saurabh Sharma and his wife Anura Sharma, software engineers at Manyata Tech Park, were driving to their Yelahanka home when the traffic police waved them down around 6.30 pm on January 5. The police were busy managing the governor’s convoy passing through the Hebbal flyover.

Saurabh, who was at the wheel, was reportedly driving rashly. He ignored assistant sub-inspector B Chandrashekaraiah, of Hebbal traffic police, who was frantically motioning him to pull in. Saurabh pulled ahead as if to run the policeman over. The policeman, however, managed to stop it.

Chandrashekaraiah then noticed that the couple were drunk as their breath reeked of alcohol. He asked them to get out of the car, but the couple refused to cooperate and argued that they were not drunk.

Y K Ravi, a traffic police constable, then took the couple’s blood alcohol test with a breathalyser. The reading was 88 mg/dL, way more than the permissible limit of 30 mg/dL. Police told the couple they were drunk and must leave the vehicle with them. But the couple reportedly abused the policemen.

Anura allegedly threatened to complain to Chandrashekaraiah’s seniors that he molested with her. Seeing the couple’s tantrums, police started taking a video of the incident.

Ravi then got into the couple’s car so that they would not escape. An adamant Saurabh drove the car, with his wife and constable inside, towards Ballari Road. After driving for a while, the couple stopped the car, allegedly assaulted the constable and tried to shove him out.

Chandrashekaraiah, meanwhile, called for reinforcements. A police team followed the couple and waylaid their car. The couple were taken to the Kodigehalli police station where a case was registered against them. They have been booked for drunk-driving and assaulting a policeman deterring him from discharging his duty. The couple are yet to be arrested.

DH tried to contact Saurabh but his phone was switched off.