Click to play videoMumbai: Six youngsters whose fun filled Saturday night turned into their biggest nightmare when the Toyota Corolla which they were riding in and driven by a drunk friend of theirs rammed into this roadside settlement killing six people and injuring eight others.
Twenty-one-year-old Alister Pereira, who was behind the wheel has been charged with culpable homicide and rash and negligent driving.
The other five have been charged with illegal consumption of liquor, a fact confirmed by medical tests conducted on them at the Bhabha Hospital.
But these legal proceedings mean nothing to Chennamma who is too shocked with what has happened. A gory accident that claimed three members of her family, including her brother.
Chennama says, "He was the only earning member. Now what to do."
The six were produced before the holiday court in Bandra on Sunday afternoon. While Alister has been sent to police custody till November 14 and the other five have been given bail.
Though the incident seems unintentional as of now and the accused, the fact that six poor laborers lost their lives once again raises several questions on the so-called happening nightlife of Mumbai.
Salman Khan mows down pavement dweller
In a similar incident in September 2002, actor Salman Khan had allegedly run over one person sleeping on the pavement in Mumbai.
In the wee hours of September 28, 2002, Khan, accompanied by his body guard Ravindra Patil and cousin Kamaal Khan, was returning home from a hotel.
The actor allegedly lost control of the vehicle at a T-junction and crashed into the American Express Dry Cleaners, killing one pavement dweller and injuring three others. It is alleged that Khan then fled from the scene.
Khan surrendered the next morning and was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, a charge that was subsequently dropped.
Salman Khan’s charges: |
 Culpable homicide charge dropped |
| Rash and Negligent driving |
| Drunken driving |
| Grievous injury, property damage |
The trial began in 2003 but delays and hurdles arose when some key witnesses allegedly turned hostile.
Khan's body guard Ravindra Patil retracted his previous statement given to the police where he had claimed that he had warned a drunk Khan who was driving rashly to go slow.
Patil even did the disappearing act and claimed to be mentally unstable stalling proceedings for weeks.
"We requested the court to take up the trial on a priority basis and conduct it on a weekly basis as daily proceedings would be difficult," said Khan’s lawyer, Dipesh Mehta.
Taking note of the fact that only five of the 64 witnesses have been examined in three years, it has now been decided to conduct proceedings every Wednesday in the second half of court hours to expedite the trial.
(With inputs from Aruna Ramesh and Kanhiya Singh)
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