India captain Rohit Sharma found himself making the headlines for the wrong reason on Wednesday as reports emerged of him being fined for overspeeding twice on the Pune-Mumbai highway. Rohit was driving to the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune from Mumbai ahead of the Indian team's Cricket World Cup 2023 match against Bangladesh. Police confirmed that Rohit was caught driving at speeds of 105kph and 117 kph on the highway while the speed limit is 100 kph. Rohit was handed a fine of INR 4,000 in total (2,000 each on both occasions). He paid the fine on Thursday.
"These speeding violations occurred on October 17 and as per rule action was taken. The fines were promptly paid," Lata Phad, superintendent of highway police confirmed the news.
Reports claimed that Rohit was driving at the speed of over 200 kph but that isn't the truth. Th maximum speed the India captain touched, as per the official report, on that highway was actually 117kph. His luxury car was captured by auto cameras installed on both lanes of the expressway. The car was captured exceeding the permissible speed limit on two separate occasions.
According to police, there are automated cameras installed on both lanes of the Pune-Mumbai Expressway to monitor vehicle speeds. If a vehicle violates the speed limit and the camera records it, the system issues traffic challans with the imposed fee to the car's owner.
A police officer from the Highway Police stationed at Vadgaon provided further details officially, the first violation was recorded near the Kamshet tunnel as the car travelled from Mumbai to Pune, and the violation was observed at 117 kmph.
According to police, the second violation took place near Somatane Phata as the car was travelling from Pune to Mumbai on the same day at 111 kmph.
Meanwhile, the Indian cricket team continued their unbeaten run in the ongoing World Cup, with Rohit-led India picking up a fourth win in as many matches.
With ANI inputs