The man arrested for drunk driving and mowing down 58-year-old jogger Rajalakshmi Vijay Ramakrishnan at Worli Sea Face on March 18 this year has once again sought bail before a sessions judge, claiming in his plea that the police did not include results of the urine test that was taken after the incident. Sumer Merchant, 23, claimed that the urine report was clean and the test did not detect any alcohol in his body.
While opposing Merchant’s first bail application in April, the police had stated that his blood report showed 137mg alcohol per 100ml blood. The permissible limit as per the Motor Vehicles Act is 30mg per 100 ml.
Urine report did not reveal any sign of alcohol: Merchant
The urine report was yet to be received, the police had said then.
“The urine report did not reveal any sign of alcohol. The copy of the same has been conveniently not annexed as part of charge sheet,” Merchant said in his plea.
Disputing the blood report, he stated that there were no details of the medical practitioner on his qualifications to collect the sample or nothing on record to show where the samples were stored or preserved. It said that there were no documents to show in whose custody they were.
Merchant's bail plea contended statements of his friends
The plea also contended that the statements of his friends who were in the vehicle when the accident occurred did not reflect that he had consumed alcohol before driving.
Merchant also referred to statements of other friends of his who were in a club with him the previous night. They had not specified in their statements that he had consumed alcohol, he said, adding that therefore there was nothing to reflect that he was drunk driving.
Worli jogger hit by Merchant's car
Merchant’s speeding car hit Ramakrishnan while she was jogging at Worli Sea Face. The impact was so severe that Rajalakshmi was flung several feet away and was killed on the spot. Merchant was on his way to drop his friends at Shivaji Park after partying with them the whole night.
