It was 'Mission Impossible' of sorts for the motorcade of Lamborghini, Porsche and Ferrari cars as they ran into a police stop along the sea-facing East Coast Road en route to a resort early on Sunday.
As the 10 colourful sportsters rolled into Uthandi Toll Plaza on ECR about 30 km from the city, traffic police waved them down. The speed machines, which included an Audi, were being driven rashly and above the speed limit, the police said.
The car owners protested vehemently, while an excited crowd gathered around clicking selfies and taking videos. One orange Lamborghini even detached itself from the group and sped away. For the others, it was a long wait ahead.
The sports cars, worth ₹90 lakh to ₹4 crore, belonged to a group of enthusiasts, who were cruising to a resort near Kovalam. The drivers who spoke to the media dismissed the police charges.
A senior police officer, however, said provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were being applied in the case. Sections 184 (driving dangerously), 189 (engaging in a race without permission) and 190 (2) (violation of road safety, noise or air pollution standards) of the MV Act, besides Sections 279 (rash driving), 336 (rash, negligent act endangering safety of others) and 353 (deterring public servant) of the IPC were invoked.
Breakfast meet
The car owners, who are members of Madras Piston Heads Club, were on their way to the resort for a breakfast meet organised by a high-end car manufacturer, said A. Abhi, the club's founder.
"The cars were detained for over four hours for no reason. We did not drive fast as we cannot do those speeds on this road," he said.
A Traffic Police officer said the cars were stopped during the regular check. Policemen stopped them as they were 'over-speeding' on the accident-prone ECR. Since they were in a big group police got 'suspicious' that they were racing.
