A sessions court on Friday granted bail to 23-year-old Sumer Merchant arrested for knocking down techfirm CEO Rajalakshmi Vijay while she was jogging at Worli seaface in March, leading to her death on the spot.
Rash driving led to techie's death
Earlier on April 11, a court had rejected his first bail plea before the sessions court and stated that the police first needs to investigate if there was an intention of the accused to eliminate the deceased, given her high position in an MNC. Opposing the present bail plea, the Worli police station had submitted before the court that the accused was drunk and rash driving causing the accident that led to the victim’s death on the spot. It said that if he is granted bail, a wrong message could go to the masses.
In this present bail application, Merchant had pointed out that a urine report that he claimed showed no alcohol content, was not made a part of its chargesheet in the case. "The urine report did not reveal any sign of alcohol. The copy of the same has been conveniently not annexed as part of the chargesheet,” his application had stated. Merchant had also disputed the blood report (which had shown high alcohol content). His plea raised doubts on the competence of the medical practitioner who collected the blood sample and the way in which it was preserved. A reasoned order granting bail is yet to be made available.
