Ramesh Awte, attached to the crime branch of Mumbai police, had tried to knock down Atul Pethe on April 21, a release by Thane city police said. The constable has been on the run since then.

Watch the horrifying video here. Pethe can be seen climbing over onto the car’s bonnet for some distance:

Awte and Pethe, who owns an ice-cream shop, were friends. However, a dispute cropped up between them over some financial matter, it said. As per this Mumbai Mirror report, Awate had borrowed Rs 3 lakh from Pethe’s mother and was refusing to pay it back.

“On April 21, Awte came to Pethe’s shop in Naupada area and started hurling abuses at him. Thereafter, the accused drove his vehicle in a negligent manner to harm the victim. Pethe clung to the vehicle and was dragged for some distance,” the release said.

The victim sustained injuries in the incident, it said. The Mirror report said that the constable  would have smashed Pethe into a truck if the crowd around had not raised an alarm.

Awte was yet to be arrested and efforts were on to nab him, police said.

According to police, Awte has been booked under IPC sections 279 (rash driving) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace).