Coastal Road crash: 20-yr-old driver charged with culpable homicide

The police, who had initially applied Section 106 (causing death by negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), said penal sections for the serious charge was added after family of the deceased lodged a separate complaint at Gangapur police station, Nashik, under sec 105 of the BNS.

MUMBAI: The Tardeo police have charged 20-year-old Sayyam Rakesh Sakhala, whose Swift D’zire car had crashed into a road divider on Coastal Road near Haji Ali resulting in the death of 19-year-old Gargi Vitthal Chate on February 8, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Coastal Road crash: 20-yr-old driver charged with culpable homicide

The police, who had initially applied Section 106 (causing death by negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), said penal sections for the serious charge was added after the family of the deceased lodged a separate complaint at the Gangapur police station in Nashik under section 105 of the BNS.

The father of the deceased, Vitthal Chate, said in his statement to the police that his daughter was forcefully taken by the accused who, despite knowing that rash driving can cause accident, drove in high-speed which ultimately caused the sedan to crash into the divider.

According to the police, on February 8 around 7:55 pm, Sayyam, a resident of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marg in Dadar East, had invited his friend Gargi, a resident of Buildarch Olive in Shivaji Park for a drive. After meeting in Dadar, they proceeded towards South Mumbai where, while driving on the coastal road, the sedan crashed into a divider on a turn near Haji Ali.

Gargi, who was a first year Bachelor of Finance student in Jaihind College, suffered severe injuries to her head, eyes and hands and was rushed to Breach Candy Hospital, where she was declared dead. Sayyam was also admitted with injuries but was later discharged from the hospital.

“In his statement, the father of the deceased has said that he had received a phone call from his daughter, Gargi, before the accident, where she told him that her friend, Sayyam, would be taking her for a drive and she would be back at her residence in 10 minutes. However, around 9:45pm, he got a call from the father of the accused informing him about the accident. He has blamed the rash driving of the accused for his daughter’s death, in the FIR that was registered in Nashik. The case has been transferred to us and we have already given notice to the accused in the matter,” said an officer from Tardeo Police Station.