This man drove off with the Harley Davidson Street 750 from a showroom in Hyderabad's Banjara Hills.
Man walks into a showroom, takes a Harley Davidson for a test drive, and never returns. True story.
The incident happened on Tuesday in Hyderabad's upscale Banjara Hills, at a showroom said to belong to a leader of Andhra Pradesh's ruling Telugu Desam Party.
The police are now hunting for the man, who is seen in CCTV images tentatively starting the expensive bike before picking up speed and vanishing into traffic.
Investigations indicate that the man, believed to be in his thirties, may have escaped to Mumbai. The police believe he went to an ATM to withdraw money before coming to the showroom in the afternoon - at a time when traffic is not that heavy and a quick getaway is easier.
The bike that he took, a Harley Davidson Street 750, is the cheapest in the stable. Its ex-showroom price is Rs. 4.32 lakh. The most expensive model in India is the Street Glide Special, which costs Rs. 29.91 lakh.
"He had filled the proforma for the test-drive before taking away the bike," said Banjara Hills police officer Santosh.
The name that he gave - Tahir Ali - and the license that he offered at the showroom before picking up the bike was fake, say the police. So were the phone number and email id he wrote on the form. He had also bought a helmet on the way to the showroom.