Day after arrest, MSRDC MD’s son, two others get bail

Ashwajit Gaikwad, son of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation managing director, his friend Romil Patil and driver Sagar Shedge were arrested around 9 pm on Sunday on charges of voluntarily causing hurt, rash driving, causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others

Mumbai: A Thane city court on Monday granted bail on a surety of ₹15,000 to Ashwajit Gaikwad and two others who allegedly tried to mow down the 26-year-old Priya Singh late at night on December 11. The court’s decision came less than 24 hours after the Thane police formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations made by Singh, who is admitted in a Thane hospital with fractures from the assault.

Ashwajit Gaikwad and 2 others were granted bail on surety of ₹15,000 each. (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo)

Gaikwad, son of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation managing director, his friend Romil Patil and driver Sagar Shedge were arrested around 9 pm on Sunday on charges of voluntarily causing hurt, rash driving, causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others. They were produced in court on Monday afternoon, and the Thane police sought their custody for five days saying all the accused needed to be interrogated separately.

Singh’s lawyer Darshna Pawar contended that her client’s FIR was not written properly, and her actual statement was not being taken on record. She said though a clear attempt was made to kill Singh, attempt to murder charges were not included in the FIR. Defense lawyer Rajan Salunkhe, on the other hand, argued that his clients had the right to bail as all the sections they were booked under were bailable.

Judge Priyanka Dhumal initially remanded the three accused in judicial custody for 14 days. But after the defence filed the bail application, they were granted bail on a surety of ₹15,000, and on condition that they would cooperate with the investigation.

The court’s decision reflected badly on the police, who failed to get even one day’s custody despite Thane police commissioner Jai Jeet Singh announcing the formation of a special investigation team headed by deputy commissioner Amar Jadhav on Sunday morning. A police officer who is part of the investigation said they had not even been able to get CCTV footage of the incident.

“The incident happened past midnight and it was dark. Nothing is clearly seen in whatever CCTV footage is available,” said the officer.

Singh’s family said the trio was granted bail due to the failure on the investigation team. “Why has Thane police formed an SIT when they couldn’t even produce the CCTV footage of the area? Why was section 307 not added in the FIR even though the victim repeatedly said in her statement that she heard Gaikwad say ‘uda de isko (mow her down)’ to his driver, which clearly shows the intention to harm/ kill the victim,” said a family member who was present during the hearing.

When HT asked a senior police official why Section 307 had not been added, he said, “Section 323, 279 and other accident sections were added based on the statement given by the victim on the first day. She never mentioned anything about the accused trying to mow her down. Her statement was verified, and the accused also confessed to it.” The police will record Singh’s statement on camera and will add more sections if required, he stated.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Chitra Wagh met Singh and her family and assured them of a fair probe. “The victim told me that whatever she had said in her statement is not reflected in official papers. So I have requested her and her family to record their statement again on video recounting the entire sequence. The SIT has a provision where the police can record the victim’s statement again. We will give all our support to the family. Police are also doing their work rigorously to give justice to the girl. Everything will be done properly once the statement is recorded once again,” said Wagh.