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Mumbai police say no deaths, AAP demands court-monitored probe

Contradicting the initial buzz on social media, Mumbai police now claims that there were no deaths in the accident. The ultra-luxury sports car, registered with Reliance Ports, was allegedly driven by Akash Ambani, son of the richest industrialist in the country, Mukesh Ambani, according to a number of eyewitness accounts.  However, more than 10 days later, the cops are yet to summon him for an examination. Further, the police have not even arrested the self-declared culprit, Bansilal Joshi (55), either. According to them, they are still examining witnesses and awaiting the forensic report.

According to reports by the
Mumbai Mirror
, dated 10 December (http://bit.ly/J1m7l8), eight people were injured in the accident and two vehicles, a Hyundai Elantra and an Audi, were severely damaged by the speeding Aston Martin. Speaking to Millennium Post, Ravi Pawar, assistant police inspector at the Gamdevi police station and investigating officer in the case, told us that there were no deaths in the incident. He said, ‘The victims suffered minor injuries and nothing untoward has happened to them’. Pawar added, ‘We are still collecting witnesses and questioning them. There have been no arrests so far.' When asked about the 55-year-old chauffeur working for the Ambanis, Bansilal Joshi, who ‘surrendered’ himself before the Gamdevi police, claiming to be the man behind the wheel, Pawar said, ‘We’re still questioning him’. Regarding questions on the two sets of fingerprints that were found from the speeding car, he said, ‘We’re still awaiting the forensic report’.

Clearly, the Mumbai police are reluctant to arrest the Ambani family chauffeur, even though he presented himself as the culprit in this case. The CCTV footage from the nearby Cadbury junction has proved to be inconclusive according to deputy police commissioner, Nisar Tamboli. The investigating officer in the case, Ravi Pawar, has been in the eye of the storm, with a show-cause notice being served to him by the top brass of Mumbai police, over the lack of any detailed description of the person on the wheel in their FIR. This, in spite of the fact that one of the occupants of the car that was hit from behind by the speeding Aston Martin gave a detailed description of the driver, young and portly man, who didn’t look like a chauffeur, which the Gamdevi police station omitted from the FIR. Clearly, confusion over the description given by the victim and details in the FIR present two very different versions. (
http://bit.ly/1e4XL8p
)

Joshi, in his statement to the police, said that he was assigned to drive around Akash Ambani on Sunday morning and decided to test the car in the middle of the night. Speaking to the Mumbai
Mirror
, Foram Ruparel, 25, who was driving the Audi, said, ‘I could see in the rear-view mirror the car was moving at a high speed, weaving left and right. And then, in a flash, it hit my car. I had a decent look at driver’s face. He was a young man’.

Despite several attempts by Millennium Post to contact other senior officers of the Mumbai police, none were available for comment. Moreover, as mentioned in our report titled, ‘Has the son of India’s richest man killed two persons?’, we’ve talked about how major media outlets have blacked out the story completely. In fact, news houses such as
Zee News
and DNA, despite reporting the matter initially, later took down these stories from their website. Now, it appears to be a case that is shrouded in mystery.

What raises further questions is the presence of two Honda CRVs with a large security detail that was tailing the Aston Martin, which apparently, had ‘no member of the Ambani family.’ Further questions have been raised as to why the driver of the Aston Martin was whisked away by the SUV after the accident, without informing the police. Despite the police team reaching soon after the incident at 1.30 am, a FIR was registered only by 5.30 am. (
http://bit.ly/J1m7l8
)

The question remains whether Mumbai police will have the gumption to examine Akash Ambani. We are yet to hear any answers from anyone of note. Prior to the incident, he was last seen at Sachin Tendulkar’s felicitation party that night. In such a case, it is easy to find out which car he was driving at the time of the Peddar Road accident. There are serious questions emanating about the car, which was traveling at uncontrollably high speeds, and the suspicious absence of any casualties among those on the footpaths on Peddar Road. There is a strong likelihood that there might have been serious casualties, as the unsubstantiated reports on social media had initially hinted at, saying two people had lost their lives in the incident. However, the Mumbai police categorically disavow this theory.

Millennium Post spoke with Prashant Bhushan, member of Aam Aadmi Party, who said, ‘The case must be investigated properly, honestly and concerned person must be arrested immediately. They are very powerful persons as we have seen in the Niira Radia case.

The entire government machinery, including entire system is in their hands. Media is also in their hands. As soon as such a high profile case emerges, the entire machinery rises to save them. If there are enough evidences to suggest the involvement of Mukesh Amabni’s son, there must be a CBI investigation under the monitoring of the concerned high court.’

However, we hope that with the pressure mounting on the cops, and with social activist groups as well as eminent members of political parties like AAP now demanding a special investigation by the CBI, under the court’s monitoring, the truth would be out soon.
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