Mumbai, March 27: Parallels are being drawn with the Salman Khan crash case after Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray?s closest associate Ravi Mhatre?s car crushed to death two bystanders yesterday
Mhatre, who mowed down two elderly women and injured as many bystanders on Saturday, was granted bail today by a metropolitan court as Mumbai police did not press charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The police arrested and charged Mhatre with Section 304A of the IPC, which can be applied for rash and negligent driving, a bailable offence.
Mhatre, virtually the right hand of Thackeray, was released on a personal surety of Rs 20,000.
The police did not invoke Section 304 Part II for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, a charge slapped on Salman who, under the influence of alcohol, had run over sleeping bakery employees in 2002, killing one and injuring four.
?Our investigations did not show the need to apply culpable homicide not amounting to murder. It is a case of rash and negligent driving, and we have applied the right sections,? deputy commissioner of police Bipin Kumar Singh said.
Mhatre was booked under Sections 304A (rash and negligent driving), 279 (causing death due to negligence), 337 (causing hurt), and 338 (causing grievous hurt) after the Ford Ikon he was driving swerved to the left and rammed into commuters waiting at a bus stop.
The mishap killed 75-year-old Leela Mashelkar and her daughter Sheela Pawaskar, 45, who were declared dead on arrival at Cooper Hospital. Mahadev Morajkar and Balwant Kulkarni were injured.
The accident happened around 4 pm yesterday when the 40-year-old Mhatre was driving to his residence in Goregaon in the western surburbs with his wife and two daughters and lost control of the car.
While the injured were admitted to the nearest hospitals, Mhatre was first admitted to VN Desai Hospital. He was later taken to Bombay Hospital in south Mumbai. Mhatre was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital, which has a powerful Sena-controlled union, on complaints of ?chest pain?.
The police said today that the mandatory breathalyser and blood tests were conducted on Mhatre.
?We will submit the reports in court,? Singh said.
The police insisted that the department was under no political pressure to go soft on Mhatre, but relatives of the victims levelled charges of a cover-up.
Manish Mashelkar, the grandson of Leela Mashelkar, told reporters that ?I am 100 per cent sure that he (Mhatre) was under the influence of liquor or bhang. The police are now trying to cover up.?
Mashelkar also asked why immediate medical aid was not provided to the two women who were badly injured. ?What was the need to take them to Cooper Hospital which is located at least 7 km away when VN Desai Hospital was closer. And what was the need to admit Mhatre in VN Desai Hospital? Isn?t this inhuman?? he asked.
DCP Singh said the two women had serious injuries and VN Desai Hospital was not equipped to deal with them.
Salman was initially arrested under Section 304A by Bandra police and was released on bail within a few hours after the accident.
He was later slapped with the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder following a public outcry. However, the section was eventually dropped during the court hearing.
