India News | Court Denies Bail to Goa Businessman Held for Mowing Down Three with His Mercedes

Panaji, Aug 8 (PTI) A local court in Goa on Tuesday denied bail to businessman Paresh Sawardekar who was arrested for allegedly mowing down three people with his Mercedes car.

The Mardol police have registered a case against Sawardekar for driving under the influence of alcohol and hitting five vehicles at Banastarim village near Panaji, killing three persons, on Sunday.

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Sawardekar, who owns a chain of supermarkets and a real estate firm, had moved an application for bail before the District and Sessions Court on Tuesday.

Judge Cholu M Gauns, Additional Sessions Judge of Panaji sitting at Ponda, refused to grant him bail, saying that the accused was well aware that driving in a drunken stage may be a culpable offence.

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The order denying bail to Sawardekar says that the “air blank test” of the accused indicates he had 94 mg/100 ml of alcohol in his blood at the time of the accident. This is thrice the permissible limit, a senior police official had said earlier.

“The case papers, that is, panchanama and photographs reveal that empty beer bottles, plastic bottle containing in it alcohol smelling liquid was found stored in the Mercedes car which the applicant was driving,” the judge observed.

The court noted that the circumstances support the prosecution's contention that the applicant was driving the vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

“These circumstances further demonstrate that the applicant has driven car rash and negligently with the knowledge that his act of driving may be culpable, within meaning of section 304 of IPC and has caused death of three innocent individuals,” the order reads.

The court observed that the investigation is at a preliminary stage.

“The statement of eyewitnesses are yet to be recorded. Considering the seriousness of the offence some time is required to be given to the investigation officer to investigate the case,” the judge said.

The court also said that the accused is a Goan and the possibility of influencing witnesses cannot be ruled out.

The accident, in which three cars, a motorcycle and a scooter were hit, took place at 7.30 pm on Sunday on the Ponda-Panaji national highway, some 15 kilometres from the state capital.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)