Ahmedabad: The driver of the speeding car that allegedly killed nine people on ISKCON Bridge in Ahmedabad two days back, was sent to judicial remand till Sunday. Also, his father has been remanded to a 14-day judicial custody.
At around 1 am on Thursday, nine people died and 10 others were injured after the car rammed into a crowd that had gathered following an accident between a truck and a vehicle on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway in Ahmedabad. Police arrested driver Tathya Patel and his father Pragnesh Patel and took them to the accident spot on Thursday. Police feel Pragnesh may attempt to tamper with the evidence or influence witnesses if he is not kept behind the bars.
On instructions of chief minister Bhupendra Patel the case is being heard on a priority basis. A Gujarat court on Saturday, sent Tathya to judicial remand till Sunday and Pragnesh to judicial custody for 14 days. Government lawyer Pravin Trivedi said that the car is owned by Pragnesh's partner but it is not clear as to why Tathya was driving it. Also, where Tathya had gone and where he was heading to from the ISKCON flyover are not clear, he added.
No mobile phones were recovered from Tathya or any other passengers travelling in the car. Nothing has been found while searching the car that can be presented as evidence, police said. Police have also taken note of the fact that after the accident, Tathya's parents rushed him to the hospital themselves without informing the police.
Police said that passengers travelling in the car are allegedly not cooperating in the investigations. It has been learnt that Pragnesh had even threatened to kill the injured at the accidental spot. This, however, is yet to be investigated, police said. The police have taken Pragnesh's associate as a witness in this case. It took around 10 hours to record statement of all, police said.
Nisar Vaidya, counsel for the accused, has also come under scanner for rash driving. A video has been found in his Facebook account where he is seen driving a car of 159 km/hr speed. Now, he too may face an investigation, sources said. Investigations have revealed that when Tathya was driving the car, a Punjabi song was being played and he would often let off his hands from the steering wheel. It is being investigated whether all his friends took drugs or not, police said.
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The viral video shows his car plying at a speed of 120 km/hr but, in the statement given to police, he said that the speed of the car was less than 100 km/hr. The authenticity of the video is being checked while the forensic report will be ready soon, police added.
