Sea Link accident: Sessions court grants bail to accused SUV driver Irfan Bilakiya

His lawyer contended that there was no evidence to show that his car was speeding up. It was claimed that none of the cameras installed on the sea link captured Bilakiya speeding the car nor that he received any e-challan for speeding on the Worli sea link. It has been claimed that the incident was purely an accident

Mumbai: A sessions court in the city on Wednesday granted bail to Irfan Abdul Rahim Bilakiya, the driver of the speeding SUV that crashed into three stationary vehicles, including an ambulance and a Mercedes on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) in the early hours on October 5, killing five and injuring eight people.

Mumbai, India - October 06, 2022: Accused 40-year-old Irfan Abdul Rahim Bilakhiya who was driving the Hyundai Creta car remanded to one-day police custody, after arrested and produced for the Bandra-Worli Sealink road accident case in the early hours of Wednesday, at Bhoiwada Court, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, October 06, 2022. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

Bilakiya claimed that his vehicle had suffered a mechanical failure because of which he lost control of the SUV and caused the accident.

His lawyer contended that there was no evidence to show that his car was speeding up. It was claimed that none of the cameras installed on the sea link captured Bilakiya speeding the car nor that he received any e-challan for speeding on the Worli sea link. It has been claimed that the incident was purely an accident.

The accident took place around 2.53am, a few minutes after a Maruti Suzuki Swift crashed into the barricade on the south-bound side of the BWSL (towards Worli) following a tyre burst and the owner of a Maruti Suzuki Baleno stopped to help four stranded occupants of the Swift.

The BWSL staff, noticing the parked vehicles, assumed that an accident had taken place and sent an ambulance as well as a tow-away vehicle to the site. Meanwhile, doctor duo Dr Ankush Tinha (37) and Dr Ashwini Nair (28), both officers of the Indian Navy, also stopped their Mercedes just ahead of the Swift, assuming that medical help was needed.

Bilakiya’s Hyundai Creta came from behind and crashed into the vehicles, resulting in the death of five persons – the ambulance driver and four BSWL toll staff, and injuring eight persons, including the doctors. Forty-year-old Bilakiya was arrested later in the day, and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, under section 304 (2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).