‘I couldn’t keep track’

The 27-year-old beauty therapist who ran her car into a taxi and a bike early Saturday, killing two people, was sipping on a beer can at the time.

The 27-year-old beauty therapist who ran her car into a taxi and a bike early Saturday, killing two people, was sipping on a beer can at the time.

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“I could not keep track of the road and when I realised it, I had already hit a taxi. After that I tried to turn my steering wheel but rammed it further,” Nooria Haveliwala said in her statement to the police on Sunday.

At around 10 pm on Friday she had gone to a friend’s Breach Candy residence in south Mumbai for a party and drove off in her Honda CRV after dinner, Haveliwala told the police.

Almost two hours later, she bought six beer cans. While she consumed one outside the shop, she started drinking another while driving, said an investigating officer, who refused to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

“While she was drinking, she took her sight off the road after which she rammed her vehicle into a taxi.”

A biker, Afzal Akbar (36), and traffic Sub-Inspector Dinanath Shinde (40) were killed and four persons injured on Maharshi Karve Road in Marine Lines.

Haveliwala had consumed alcohol way above permissible limits, the police had said after the accident.

They are also investigating if she had consumed drugs. “We have taken her nail, hair and blood samples and have sent them for test to forensic laboratory to ascertain if she had taken drugs,” said Additional Commissioner of Police, south region, RK Padmanabhan.

Her father Yusuf Haveliwala, however, defended his daughter, saying she was a responsible driver and only a social drinker. “My daughter is innocent and suffers from no alcohol problem. The accident was an unfortunate incident…”