PANJIM: In a significant development, the High Court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday directed Mercedes SUV owner Meghana Sawardekar to deposit a substantial sum of Rs 2 crore within next two weeks with the court. This monetary deposit, as per the Court’s directive, will serve as a provision for potential compensation to accident victims and others individuals, who have been adversely affected.
The court’s directives came while hearing a plea of Meghana Sawardekar, who had challenged the summons issued to her by the Mardol police station regarding the accident occurred at Banastarim on August 6, which snuffed out lives of three persons and seriously injured three others.
The Court stated that compensation will be equally distributed to the victim families. The Court was told that 50 lakh will be paid to family of Fadte couple while another Rs 50 lakh will be given to the family of third young victim Arup Karmakar while, Rs 25 lakh each are promised to three injured persons and remaining Rs 25 lakh will be kept with the Court. The Court also asked the public prosecutor to make this ex-gratia compensation.
Meanwhile, the statements of Meghana and her minor son were recorded before the Ponda Magistrate for nearly three hours on Monday, while the statements of her two remaining children was scheduled to be recorded on Wednesday.
The High Court has already rescheduled the hearing on the bail application filed by Shripad alias Paresh Sawardekar, to Thursday, August 24. Paresh stands accused of driving the Mercedes SUV recklessly under the influence of alcohol, leading to a tragic accident that claimed three lives and left three others injured at Banastarim on August 6.
The aftermath of the accident case has led to a noteworthy transfer of the case from the Mardol police station to the Crime Branch, Ribandar following demand by the villagers of Divar. The investigation team led by DySP (Crime Branch) Suraj Halarnkar along with PI Narayan Chimulkar, has been formed specifically for this purpose under the supervision of SP (Crime Branch) Nidhin Valsan.
