The driver of a car was detained on Wednesday after fatally striking a 73-year-old woman in Mumbai this past week and attempting to pass it off as an accident in which he did not have blame and in which he actually assisted the victim by transporting her to a hospital.
They said the tragedy happened while the dead, Pushpa Dhanaji Keni, proceeded to cross a road in Sion, Central Mumbai, on his way to a shrine.
According to an official, “the accused, Ismail Ansari, said the woman collapsed while crossing the street and fell in front of his SUV on September 10”.
“However, the driver’s involvement in the accident was determined using CCTV evidence”, he said.
“After hitting Keni with his car, Ansari called her daughter, who works as a head booking clerk for the Central Railway, using her cell phone, informing her that she had fallen on the road due to dizziness and that he was driving her to Sion Hospital for treatment”, according to the official.
“The woman’s daughter was also asked to come to the hospital by the car driver. According to the official, the elderly woman’s daughter visited the hospital and thanked Ansari for her mother’s prompt assistance”, he added.
“Keni died the next day during treatment”, he added, “and her funeral rites were also performed”.
An officer from the Sion police station discovered Keni was injured by the speeding SUV driven by Ansari while reviewing CCTV footage of the area on Saturday.
The police revealed the video to the victim’s son as well as the driver.
Her son filed a complaint with the Sion police station, and Ansari was charged under IPC sections 304A (causing death by negligence), 279 (rash driving), and 337 (causing harm by an act threatening the life or personal safety of others, as well as related Motor Vehicles Act laws).
The automobile driver was later arrested.
Keni, a resident of Bhandarwada in Sion, was heading back home when the incident occurred. According to her son Prashant (56), “she liked to walk to the shrine every Ekadashi. She left home around 3 p.m., and the family received a call 30 minutes later saying she had “collapsed” on the road in front of a vehicle, and the driver, Ismail Ansari, drove her to the hospital”.
“The hospital, on the other hand, notified the police. Because the family had not approached them, police sub-inspector Indrajit Chavan reviewed CCTV camera footage from the day of the tragedy and discovered Ansari’s Toyota Innova knocking down Keni as she crossed the street. Ansari was also seen scooping up the victim and putting her inside the car; an official stated these lines.
“On September 16, Chavan contacted Prashant Keni and invited him to the police station, where he showed him the video evidence. Despite being told several times, Prashant refused to file a FIR. So we detained Ansari on the spot,” a senior police official explained.
“Ansari was arrested on Sunday evening for violating Indian Penal Code sections 279 (rash driving), 304A (causing death due to negligence), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), and 184 (driving dangerously) and 134 (b) (failure to report the circumstances of the occurrence (accident) to a police officer or a police station) by a driver”, he explained further.