Five people were killed and another eight persons were injured in a collission between an ambulance and four cars on the southbound stretch of the Bandra Worli sea link in the wee hours of Wednesday. (Express photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)THE BHOIWADA court on Thursday sent Irfan Abdul Raheem Beelkia, who was driving the speeding vehicle that killed five people and injured several others on the Bandra-Worli Sea link early on Wednesday, to a day’s police custody. The police had sought his custody claiming they needed to record the statements of the witnesses. They also wanted to confront him with other witnesses and evidence that they had procured. On the other hand, defence lawyer Vikram Chavan pointed out that workers of the Bandra-Worli sea link are responsible for the accident as they did not take adequate safety measures.
He also told the court that the police have wrongly charged Beelkia with Section 304 (ii), even as the police maintained that investigation revealed that he was distracted by his phone at the time of the accident. The police said they have sent his blood samples for forensic examination to ascertain whether he was driving under the influence of alcohol or contraband substances.
“We are also trying to ascertain whether there are any previous case registered against him,” said an officer adding, “We have written to the traffic authorities to understand at what speed he was driving the car when the accident took place.” According to the police, the incident took place between 2.40am and 2.53am and all the injured are still admitted in hospital. “We could record the statement of only Krushna Yadav, the driver of the ambulance. The rest of the injured are still recuperating,” said a police officer.
Meanwhile, family members of two of the deceased arrived in Mumbai on Thursday to take their bodies to their respective states. They said that the families of the two men — Rajendrakumar Rajput and Gajraj Singh – were under the impression that the two were still alive and were undergoing treatment. Singh’s younger brother Vijaypal said, “They are constantly calling to check on him. I have told them that he is still admitted in hospital because his wife will be devastated if she comes to know that he is no more.”
Madhya Pradesh native Singh had come to Mumbai six-seven years ago after he suffered losses in farming. The 31-year-old was earning around Rs 15,000 a month and would regularly send money to his family. He is survived by his wife, 8-year-old son, 12-year-old daughter, and parents.
Singh’s cousin Sujam Singh, who was waiting at the mortuary for his body, said, “He has two brothers but they have their own responsibilities. He also took care of his parents. How will his wife continue with her life? The company that employed him and the government must compensate them so that the children can complete their education.”
Meanwhile, Rajput’s son, Manohar, also told his family in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, that he is still being treated at the hospital.
Manohar was accompanied by his grandfather Jayatram (70) who was seen running around Nair hospital’s mortuary for completing the formalities to be handed over Rajput’s body.
“I just want my son’s body so that I can go home. I just want the government to help my son’s children,” Jayatram said. “My mother will be shocked to see his body. I just don’t want to be there to take care of her when she learns about his death, that’s why we haven’t told her yet,” he added.