Mathroo, who had admitted himself to a hospital in Panvel after he “suffered head injuries”, was discharged on Tuesday evening following which which he was arrested, police said. (Representational Image)A 75-year-old man arrested in connection with the July 21 accident at Kamothe, which had left two dead and four others injured, was produced before a court on Wednesday and remanded to two-day police custody. Medical reports, police said, have indicated that the accused was not inebriated at the time of the accident.
According to police, Harshbinder Singh Mathroo was driving his Skoda car on July 21, which had rammed into two two-wheelers and pedestrians just 200 from his house at Juhi Residency. “According to Mathroo, the car was stuck in auto-gear mode and he couldn’t control the vehicle. He eventually rammed the car into a stationary school bus to stop the vehicle before fleeing the spot,” a police officer said.
Mathroo, who had admitted himself to a hospital in Panvel after he “suffered head injuries”, was discharged on Tuesday evening following which which he was arrested, police said. “He had not been inebriated on the night of the accident, the doctors have reported. He suffers from hypertension and diabetes and was stressed… we are yet to find out how the accident happened,” said the officer.
According to Senior Inspector Devidas Sonawane from Kamothe police, Mathroo has confessed that he was driving the Skoda car. “He has been remanded to police custody for two days. We are going to interrogate him. As part of our investigation, we are checking for the CCTV footage to ascertain that he was behind the wheel,” Sonawane said.
Police have meanwhile recorded the statements of two of the four injured. While none of them have identified Mathroo as the driver, police claim that they have all identified the vehicle. “In the chaos, no one saw the driver, but they all saw the car from a close range. We have eyewitness statements to confirm that the car was at high speed on a busy road. We are just investigating as to what made Mathroo do it. If it was an accident or pre-planned,” a senior officer from Navi Mumbai police said.
