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Pune: A 28-year-old civil services aspirant from Ambegaon Budruk, off Katraj-Dehu Road bypass, sustained a bullet wound to his lower back after a 16-year-old boy, to whom he had offered a lift on his motorcycle, accidentally opened fire while handling his country-made pistol around 2 pm on Friday. The motorcycle rider lost his balance, and both fell on the road.
Senior inspector Ashwini Satpute of Bibvewadi police station said, “The civil services aspirant and the boy, a resident of Kasewadi, know each other as they keep meeting regularly. The civil services aspirant, who was heading towards his classes in the Peth area of the city, stopped his motorcycle and the minor boy sat pillion. ” “While travelling towards the old part of the city, the motorcycle reached Gangadham Chowk when the minor boy, who was continuously making movements while sitting pillion because of the pistol in his trousers, decided to pull out the pistol. However, while doing so, he accidentally pulled the trigger,” she said. He is out of danger,” she said.
Police served a notice to the boy and seized the country-made pistol also. “The bullet hit the lower back of the civil services aspirant while he was riding the motorcycle. Passersby raised an alarm, and our team reached the spot. They took the minor to the police station and the injured motorcycle rider to the hospital.
After recording a statement from the civil services aspirant, Bibvewadi police filed a suo motu complaint against the boy on Saturday evening. On Friday afternoon, the boy sought a lift from him in the Bibvewadi area and requested him to drop him near Shankarseth Road.
The rising involvement of juveniles in firearm-related crimes has emerged as a serious concern for Pune Police, with multiple incidents in 2026 highlighting the ease with which minors are gaining access to illegal weapons. In Feb, a 17-year-old out on bail in a murder case and three minor accomplices were detained in the Katraj-Dias Plot area after allegedly firing two rounds in the air to terrorise residents. In Swargate, police caught two 17-year-olds with previous attempted murder cases near the Mutha Right Bank Canal carrying a country-made pistol and live ammunition. Days later in Kondhwa, a 16-year-old allegedly mistook a 28-year-old interior designer for a rival and shot him before fleeing with another minor accomplice.
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The boy, according to the police, is a school dropout and does not work. “We will question him from where he got the pistol and what the purpose was behind having the pistol,” Satpute said. Several of the illicit country-made firearms surfacing in such cases are being smuggled into the city from manufacturing hubs in Madhya Pradesh, underscoring growing concerns over illegal gun trafficking and juvenile access to weapons, according to Pune Police.
His parents are daily-wage workers. In July, the Pune Crime Branch detained a minor along with older gang operatives linked to extortion threats issued in the name of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, recovering foreign-made Turkish and Chinese pistols. Police investigations indicated that young offenders were increasingly being used by organised criminal networks for intimidation and violent activities. The trend continued in Sept with two separate incidents involving teenagers. Download the TOI App.