Shakespeare Sarani accident: Police make shocking revelation, say Arsalan wasn't behind the wheel

Kolkata: A new drama cropped up in the Shakespeare Sarani accident case as police claimed on Wednesday that Arsalan Parvez, who was arrested on Saturday, was not driving the car late on Friday night. During investigation, it was found that the Jaguar was being driven by Arsalan's elder brother Raghib Parvez.

According to police, initially after the accident they got in touch with the concerned Regional Transport Office (RTO) with the car's registration number and came to know that the car belonged to the M/S R.A.A Arsalan Enerprise Pvt. Ltd and got its address.

Later on Saturday, a notice was served and the Parvez family was asked to produce the person driving the Jaguar late on Friday night. Arsalan was subsequently handed over to police.

After Detective Department took over the investigation, several ambiguities were noticed by the investigators. According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Jt. CP), Crime, Murli Dhar, the airbags had deployed due to the impact. In such cases, the driver and the occupant of the front seat usually receive minor injury on their faces, which leaves sunburn-like marks.

On Arsalan's face, no such marks were seen. This created doubt within the investigating officers. Meanwhile, with help from forensic experts, police acquired the data recorded in the infotainment system installed inside the car.

The car is designed to not start unless the driver syncs his mobile phone with it. From the data, police got the mobile number of Raghib. Using the number, police got his image from WhatsApp. They also scrutinised footages from 45 CCTV cameras in and around the accident spot.

In the footages, police saw the driver of the Jaguar walking for a few metres and then running towards Kalamandir. But before Kalamandir crossing, he took a turn towards the Election Commission and kept on running. After getting a clear picture of the person, they found it similar to the WhatsApp image of Raghib.

Meanwhile, during interrogation of Arsalan, investigating officials found several ambiguities which led police to doubt his presence in the car.

When police put a little pressure on him, he broke down and stated that he was not driving the car. But he did not know who was in the driving seat either.

Following the identification, police detained Arsalan and Raghib's father Mustaq Parvez. During questioning, he admitted that to save Raghib they had placed Arsalan before the police.

After the accident Raghib had called his maternal uncle Md Hamza who provided him shelter. Later on Saturday evening, Raghib boarded a flight to Dubai, where the Parvez family has house.

On Tuesday, police came to know that Raghib had come back to Kolkata and was hiding somewhere. Following that, sources were asked to gather information and on Wednesday afternoon, police nabbed him form Beniapukur area. Later, Hamza was also arrested. Both of them will be produced at Bankshall Court with plea for police custody.