Drunk driving: Mumbai court reserves order on lawyer Jahnavi Gadkar's bail plea

Mumbai: A magistrate’s court on Thursday reserved till Friday the order on the bail application of Janhavi Gadkar, the 35-year-old lawyer who is accused of ramming her car into a taxi under the influence of alcohol and killing two persons.

Gadkar’s lawyer Amit Desai argued that the investigation was over and police did not need Gadkar’s custody any longer.

If she was kept in jail, it would amount to subjecting her to pre-trial punishment, he said.

The senior counsel conceded that it was a serious case and the accused must be thinking “if she could turn back the clock”.

Desai said the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was not applicable and the police should have instead imposed section 185 of Motor Vehicle Act which deals with drunken driving.

The prosecution’s claim that Gadkar would tamper with the evidence or abscond did not hold water as after the accident she had been allowed to go home and was summoned by police only the day after.

“She reached the police station next morning at 8 am, so there is no chance that she would run away,” Desai argued.

Police had already recorded the statements of the witnesses before the magistrate, so she could not influence them, he said.

But prosecutor Pralhad Mahajan said it was a serious offence and the magistrate can’t grant bail in such a case.

Some of the witnesses were friends of the accused and live in the vicinity and hence she would tamper with evidence if released on bail, he said.

Magistrate Richa Khedkar is likely to pass the order on Friday.

In the early hours of 10 June, the Audi driven by Gadkar rammed a taxi on Eastern Freeway, resulting in the death of two people inside the taxi including the driver.

PTI