Was driving under influence of whisky on wrong side of the road: Jahnavi Gadkar

Mumbai: Following the collision between an Audi and a taxi on the Eastern Freeway that left two people dead, the driver of the Audi was arrested. Corporate lawyer Jahnavi Gadkar who was at the wheel said in her statement that after leaving the Marine Plaza hotel at night, she sat in her car which was parked on Marine Drive for two hours. However, the Mumbai Police is trying to establish the fact that Gadkar had visited a pub after she left the hotel. [caption id=“attachment_2293436” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The taxi that the Audi hit. IBN Live.[/caption] Gadkar was produced in court yesterday, which remanded her in police custody till 12 June. The deceased were identified as cab driver Mohammad Abdul Sayyad (55) and Mohammad Salim Sabuwala (50) who was seated in front. Sabuwala’s wife, daughters and son were seated in the backseat of the taxi and they sustained injuries. The family was returning from Bhiwandi. Here is an excerpt from Gadkar’s statement recorded by police: “On June 8, as usual I went to my office at Nariman Point, Mumbai by driving the Audi. Since our company had bagged a new project, me and my colleagues, Rahul Dutt and Shailendra Rane, met at Hotel Marine Plaza near churchgate at around 7 pm for a small party. I had two pegs of Ballantines whisky instead of beer for fun. My colleagues Rahul and Shailendra too had the Ballantines whisky. We all had dinner after that. Total bill of the party was around Rs 2000 and I paid the bill. The party was over at around 10 pm and we were heading to our homes. I drove my car alone from Hotel Marine Plaza to Marine Drive and sat in the car for two hours. I left Marine Drive around 12.30 am and headed for home. I was driving the car. I took a U turn from Marine Drive towards Churchgate and then went to P D’Mello road to take the Eastern Freeway. On way, as I was under the influence of whisky, I drove on the wrong side and could not understand the roads. While I was driving rashly on wrong side of Eastern Freeway, I rammed my Audi into a taxi coming from the opposite direction around 1 am near a Shivaji Nagar mosque. Since the air bag of the car opened, I was not hurt but fell unconscious. When I gained consciousness, I saw that the taxi into which my car was rammed was damaged and parked in the middle of the road. My car too was damaged and was parked close to the taxi. Many people had gathered at the spot. People and police extricated me from the car and took me to the hospital for medical examination.”