Mumbai 2015 Drink & Drive Accident: Court Defers Framing Of Charges Against Lawyer

The sessions court has deferred the framing of charges against lawyer Jhanvi Gadkar, booked in June 2015 for drink and drive case killing two, for defence lawyers to counter the prosecution's demand to invoke murder charges against her.

Gadkar had rammed her car into a taxi, killing two people and injuring four on June 9, 2015, while driving the wrong side in a drunken state on the Eastern Freeway in Mumbai.

The public prosecutor Iqbal Solkar on Thursday opened his arguments to invoke murder charges on Gadkar alleging that, being a lawyer she had a knowledge that one cannot drink and drive. However, she still drank at three different places and later drove on the wrong side of the Eastern Express Highway. Thus, she had an intention to kill, Solkar argued. He contended that either she wanted to die or kill someone.

He alleged that the lawyer took a U-turn and went on the wrong side of the highway for two kilometer. She drove her car in a rash and negligent manner before crashing into the taxi, Solkar said.

After the prosecution's arguments, the defence sought time to respond to the prosecution's arguments over the applicability of the murder charges. The hearing is now adjourned to October 1.