Police say reckless overtaking, forceful impact and fleeing scene showed accused aware that the act could prove fatal
A forensic team and police inspecting the ill-fated rent-a-car Thar vehicle involved in the Sirlim road accident.
MARGAO
As the men-in-uniform invoked attempt to murder charge against the driver of the ill-fated rent-a-cab involved in the chilling road accident on the NH66 at Sirlim, wherein a lady rider was mowed down by the vehicle, leaving her critically injured, Margao police defended the move, saying the circumstances prima facie disclose knowledge and awareness on the part of the accused that such acts were imminently dangerous and likely to cause death.
While the Margao police cracked the case within hours, what has brought the police into sharp focus was its move to slap the attempt to murder charge against 19-year old Swaraj Jagtap, a native of Maharashtra for causing the accident.
Sub-divisional Police Officer, SP Sidhant Shirodkar has defended the police action saying the accident has all the ingredients of attempt to murder. “Preliminary circumstances of the case, including the dangerous overtaking from the left side, the deliberate and forceful impact upon a vulnerable two-wheeler rider, the severity of injuries caused, the nature of collision, and the subsequent act of absconding from the scene, prima facie disclose knowledge and awareness on the part of the accused that such acts were imminently dangerous and likely to cause death”, he said.
“The driver allegedly drove the vehicle in an extremely rash, reckless, dangerous and life-endangering manner with complete disregard for human life and public safety. While undertaking a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre from the left side, the accused driver knowingly and forcefully rammed the rear side of an Activa Scooter which was proceeding ahead in the same direction”, he said.
That’s not all. Margao Police Station in-charge PI Arun Desai, who is investigating the case, said the conduct of the accused after the accident also weighed heavily in the police decision to invoke the stringent charge. “After causing the incident, the accused driver fled from the spot without stopping the vehicle, without rendering medical assistance to the grievously injured victim and without informing the police authorities, thereby demonstrating complete insensitivity and conscious disregard towards the life and safety of the injured person,” PI Desai said.
Meanwhile, SDPO Shirodkar assured a delegation led by Quepem MLA Alton D’Costa that the investigation would be expedited and that the charge sheet would be filed within a fortnight – when the police move to invoke attempt to murder would come under judicial scrutiny.
