Margao: A 32-year-old Mercedes-Benz driver who was booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder after allegedly driving in a drunken state and causing a fatal crash at Sancoale, was on Saturday remanded in two days’ police custody by the JMFC court, Vasco.Accused Vidyadhar alias Vipul Prabhu, a resident of Fatorda, was produced before the court a day after his arrest, with Verna police seeking custodial interrogation to further probe the circumstances that led to the crash, which claimed the life of a 37-year-old motorcyclist and left another injured.Police said that Prabhu was driving his Mercedes-Benz car at a high speed at Upasnagar-Sancoale when it collided with the oncoming motorcycle at the Shindolim slope. The impact of the collision was such that the motorcycle rider, Ashok Kumar Chauhan, 37, was flung onto the road, while pillion rider Sonu Kumar, 24, suffered injuries. Chauhan was rushed for treatment in a critical condition but soon succumbed.Prabhu, however, continued driving with the motorcycle lodged beneath his car, dragging it for quite a distance. The prolonged friction between the two vehicles is suspected to have triggered a fire, which quickly engulfed both the car and the motorcycle, reducing them to charred wrecks by the roadside. Prabhu himself was trapped inside the burning car and had to be pulled out by bystanders, who rushed to the spot on hearing the commotion.Police said that Prabhu’s clinical examination, conducted soon after the accident, had indicated that he was intoxicated, though the chemical analysis of his blood sample is still awaited.Verna police filed an FIR against Prabhu under Sections 281, 105, 125(a), and 125(b) of the BNS, 2023, and Sections 134-A, 134-B, and 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act. While Section 105 pertains to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, Sections 125(a) and 125(b) deal with rash and negligent acts endangering human life, and Section 281 covers rash or negligent driving on a public road. Under the MV Act, Sections 134-A and 134-B relate to a driver’s duty to stop and render assistance at the scene of an accident, while Section 185 pertains to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
