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Gujarat accident accused that killed 9 booked in another case of reckless driving
A fresh case was lodged against Patel (19) after the probe revealed that he had crashed the same car into the premises of a temple complex in Gandhinagar about six months ago
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Gujarat’s Ahmedabad police have booked Tathya Patel in yet another case of rash driving in connection to a December 31 incident. The 19-year-old college student is accused of ramming his Jaguar car into a crowd on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway killing nine people on July 20.
A fresh case was lodged against Patel (19) after the probe revealed that he had crashed the same car into the premises of a temple complex in Gandhinagar about six months ago.
The latest first information report (FIR), the third against Patel, was filed in connection to the December 31 incident. According to an official at Santej police station where the complaint was lodged on Tuesday, Patel, while returning from a party, allegedly collided his Jaguar into a temple in Vansjada village, near Gota.
On July 23, another FIR was registered in a case linked to Patel in which a Mahindra Thar, allegedly being driven by Patel, collided with the compound wall of a restaurant on Sindhu Bhavan Road on July 3.
Police said that CCTV footage dated July 3, which was 15 days before the ISKCON Bridge accident, has revealed the accused Patel was recklessly driving the Thar jeep.
In the footage, Patel can be seen crashing his Thar into a restaurant wall on Sindhu Bhavan Road, the official said. The matter was privately resolved between Patel and the restaurant’s manager, avoiding any significant involvement of the police.
Police said that while there were no casualties in the previous accident, they demonstrated Patel’s hazardous driving behaviour.
After a fresh case against Patel following, the police requested the Event Data Recorder (EDR) report from the Jaguar company for further investigation into the July 20 accident which revealed that Patel had fully pushed the accelerator pedal, despite the speed limit on the SG Highway being a maximum of 70 kmph.
According to the EDR report of the Jaguar, the speed was recorded at 135 kmph, one second before the car collided with the first victim on the SG Highway, said officials.
The speeding Jaguar, driven by Patel, resulted in the deaths of nine people and injuries to 13 others. Patel was also injured in the incident and was arrested the same day on various charges, including ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’. He was sent to jail on Tuesday and is currently in judicial custody.
