Team Herald
PANJIM: The Easter Sunday morning accident at Campal when a two-wheeler-bound couple was hit by a high-end jeep car driven rashly by a young man suspected to be under the influence of alcohol, is throwing up more questions than answers.
The car has other occupants including the son of the owner of the killer vehicle.
Although the spot breath analysis which is meant to estimate the amount of alcohol content in blood turned out to be negative, people at the accident spot alleged that the person driving the vehicle was under the influence of alcohol.
At the same time conversations with people and police, sources confirm that the accused, his friend, and their support system are highly influential and the family of the car’s owner count among the higher echelons of business families in Goa.
The person named as accused is one Amar Aleem Bernad but he wasn’t the owner of the killer car. The car, according to the IO of the car belonged to Bernad’s friend’s father. Police Constable Vinit Kurtikar said the people at the accident spot claimed that there
were two people in the car when the accident took place, whereas the accused claims in his statement recorded by the police, that he was accompanied by three of his friends.
The police said the vehicle involved in the accident is registered in the name of a company owned by the father of one of those in the car. The constable failed to recall the name of the company.
The accused’s friend who owns the car was also in the car. Herald has reason to independently feel that it’s still a grey area as to who was driving the car, in the absence of a clear statement from the police made available to Herald. We will update this when this is provided.
The DySP said that the accused is currently on bail and is suspected have been drunk and driving. It was a clear case of a head-on collision. The accused was sent for medical examination at the North Goa District Hospital, Mapusa. The report of the test is awaited and is expected to be received in the coming days.
Pushpa Sawant, the victim who was shifted from Goa Medical College Hospital and is currently undergoing treatment at Manipal Hospital in her statement stated that she and her husband Maruti Sawant (69), were returning from Miramar on a two-wheeler. She said the accident took place opposite the Reliance showroom, Landscape Park at Campal on Sunday morning at around 6.45 am when a speeding car heading towards Miramar hit their two-wheeler while they were taking a right turn towards Campal.
Narrating the incident with great pain, she said that her husband fell on one side of the road completely covered in blood while she fell on the other side when they were hit by the vehicle.
Police Constable Vinit Kurtikar who arrived at the accident spot told Herald. He said the victims had been already shifted to GMC by the 108 ambulance when police reached the spot.
