Bail Plea of Lawyer Jahnvi Gadkar Rejected by Mumbai Court

Mumbai, Maharashtra: Lawyer Jahnvi Gadkar, accused of running over two persons under the influence of alcohol has been denied bail by a Mumbai court.

"The application is rejected," Magistrate Richa Khedkar said in her order. She also extended Ms Gadkar's judicial custody till July 10.

The 35-year-old lawyer had crashed her Audi SUV into a taxi allegedly in a drunken state. Two people had died in the accident on June 9.

Ms Gadkar has been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The court said that being a woman and highly qualified person were not sufficient grounds for bail when the accused is facing such a charge.

Her lawyer Amit Desai had told the court that since investigation into the case is over, her custody is not required. The prosecution had opposed the bail plea saying that some of the witnesses in this case are friends of the accused lawyer, and evidence can be tampered with if she is released.

Advertisement

The court noted that only 17 days had passed since the arrest of Ms Gadkar and accepted the police's contention that recording of statements of witnesses was still going on.

Mr Desai had contended that police should have imposed section 185 of Motor Vehicle Act that deals with drunken driving, rather than the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against Ms Gadkar.

Advertisement

Tests have showed that Ms Gadkar's blood samples had three times the permitted level of alcohol on the day of the accident. Under the Motor Vehicles Act, 30 mg of alcohol is the permissible limit for driving.