PONDA: Who was at the wheel of the Mercedes car which was involved in Sunday’s horrific accident reported at Banastarim, which snuffed out three innocent lives? An answer to this question seems to have eluded all, including the authorities concerned the person the police believe was behind the wheel Paresh Sawardekar, who has been arrested and not his wife Meghana.
An FIR has been filed against Paresh Sawardekar.
He has been accused of driving the Mercedes in the rash and negligent manner. The FIR was filed against Paresh based on the statement of two car drivers who claimed that Paresh rammed the Mercedes into their Alto cars.
However, the police do not reject these claims but say that a probe is still underway to clear all doubts as an eyewitness, Digvijay Velingkar, claimed that the woman was in the driver’s seat.
One theory of the police is that the woman alighted from the car and sat in the driver’s seat after the accident when the husband driving the car moved out of the vehicle.
Digvijay’s statement was recorded and he remains firm on it. However, the police claim besides Digvijay, no eyewitness approached them to claim that the woman was driving the Mercedes and they don’t even possess the CCTV footage to confirm the same. The police said Digvijay may be right but besides this, there are no more eyewitnesses to claim that the lady was driving the car.
The police are still verifying CCTV footage of various establishments located by the roadside from Khandepar to Banastarim. However, according to officials, in some CCTV footage, the Mercedes car with tinted glass can be seen passing in the area but the driver cannot be seen due to poor visibility.
The officials said they are still investigating to clear people’s doubts, while adding that they are upset with posts on social media alleging that there is no fair inquiry. ”If the woman was behind the wheel then to establish the same, eyewitnesses need to come forward, but nobody is approaching us to record their statements,” police said.
Police said they had briefed the senior officials of the department and registered an offence against the male driver.
Officials said they also issued summons to Digvijay seeking clarification on his claims that the woman was behind the wheel.
