Mumbai: In the hit-and-run accident involving an Audi in Mulund on Monday morning, wherein an auto rickshaw driver and two passengers were grievously injured, the car driver, identified as Vijay Dattatry Gore, abandoned his vehicle and fled. The 43-year-old was arrested a few hours after the accident.
After rushing the injured victims to the hospital, the police first inspected the accident spot and then started looking at the CCTV camera footage from the area. The first clue they got from the crime scene was from inside the abandoned Audi – a mobile phone. “We tried looking for information about the driver on his phone. We also checked the registration details of the vehicle and found a location in Malad, where a team was sent,” said an officer.
In Malad, they found Gore’s apartment which he had recently sold to someone. The current residents informed the police that he had moved to an apartment in Kanjurmarg’s Runwal Forest, which was found locked. Some more leads, including spot enquiries, led the cops to Gore’s sister, who also resides in Kanjurmarg. The police found Gore hiding there.
Earlier, while checking the car, the police had also found some hotel receipts that suggested that Gore had consumed alcohol and that he had been driving with someone in the passenger seat.
CCTV footage showed that Gore left his residence around 7.30pm on Sunday evening. His first stop was a bar and restaurant in Bhandup, where he consumed a few drinks. Then he went to Thane for another round of drinks at a different pub, accompanied by a female friend. The two then went for a long drive to Karjat, where they spent the night.
“The next day, Gore first went to Mulund East, probably to drop his friend and then went to Mulund West where the accident took place,” the police said. When he was arrested, police officers smelt alcohol on him. He was promptly subjected to a medical examination and his blood samples, along with those of others involved, were sent to the forensics for analysis. Currently in police custody, he is scheduled to appear before a court on Tuesday.
An IT professional, who mostly works from home, Gore has been booked under sections of drunk driving, rash driving, to name a few, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Motor Vehicles Act.
