Mumbai: Accused of killing one in road mishap, woman dies during trial pendency

Aarti Shetty, accused of ramming a BMW in an inebriated state into an auto rickshaw in 2012 resulting in the death of a 38-year-old woman and injuries to three persons, has died.

On February 15, her advocate appeared before a sessions court and produced her death certificate after intimating the court that she had passed away on October 25 last year.

Aarti Shetty, wife of a businessman was driving her BMW on November 1, 2012 at Sion-Panvel highway when she hit an auto in which the victim Mubin Zahera Sayyad was commuting with her husband Mohammed Hussain Sayyad and their son Mohammed Raza.

The family was on their way to attend a funeral of a relative in Navi Mumbai when the incident took place at Mankhurd Octroi Post.

The police had charged her with Indian Penal Code sections 279 (rash and negligent driving), 304A (death due to negligence) and 308 (causing hurt).

After the son of the deceased approached the Bombay High Court in 2013, the charge had been enhanced by the police to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, punishable by 10 years in jail.

In 2020, the HC had dropped the serious charge against her and she could then have faced only up to two years imprisonment.

Published on: Wednesday, August 03, 2022, 10:00 AM IST