Pune: Three men travelling to the city in a cab in the early hours of Wednesday abducted its driver, assaulted him, and drove away with his vehicle and cellphone after dumping him on Pune-Mumbai expressway at Taje village in Maval taluka.The 23-year-old driver from Navi Mumbai suffered an injury to his stomach during a scuffle with the trio inside the cab. A case of robbery was registered at Kamshet police station in the evening.Assistant inspector Aakash Pawar, in charge of Kamshet police station, said the cabby ferried passengers between Pune and Mumbai. The trio had hired his cab to travel to Pune.“The trio threatened the cabby with a sharp weapon and demanded money from him when the vehicle reached Taje village around 1.30am on Wednesday. They forced him to stop the cab after he refused to give them money and beat him up,” Pawar said.He said the suspects forced the cab driver to sit in the backseat and one of them took control of the wheel. The cabby suffered a stomach injury during a scuffle with the other two men in the cab.“The suspects stopped the cab near Kamshet tunnel after driving about 5km on the expressway and dumped its driver there. They took his cellphone and drove towards Pune,” assistant police inspector Pawar said.He said the driver took a lift in another vehicle to a toll plaza. The employees there helped him alert the police.“Our team reached the toll plaza and sent the cab driver to a hospital. His injuries are not major,” Pawar said.An officer from the crime branch said the police were scrutinising CCTV footage from the expressway toll plaza towards Pune. He said toll plazas on highways outside Pune were also being monitored to trace the cab and the accused.
