Gujarat Student Who Mowed Down 9 While Driving A Jaguar, Withdraws Bail Plea

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday disposed of the bail petition of Tathya Patel, a college student arrested for killing nine persons and injuring 13 others by ramming his speeding luxury car into a crowd in Ahmedabad in July, after he withdrew the plea.

While pronouncing the order, the court of Justice MR Mengdey said the matter was "disposed of as withdrawn", after the lawyer for the accused decided to withdraw the bail plea.

The court had earlier said it was not inclined to grant bail to the 20-year-old accused. Patel was charged under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act.

Nine persons, including a constable, were killed when his speeding Jaguar car ploughed into a crowd gathered at an accident site on the ISKCON bridge early on July 20.

On July 27, the police filed a 1,700-page chargesheet against him that included a report by the luxury car maker Jaguar, which suggested that the vehicle was overspeeding when it rammed the crowd.

Patel's lawyer argued that a crowd had gathered on the bridge past midnight due to an accident that happened earlier at the same spot. He was not trying to run away and was neither drunk, the lawyer contended.

He further urged the court to consider the case as that of negligence instead of culpable homicide and the fact that the applicant was not a hardened criminal.

The prosecution highlighted the severity of the offence and said the accused was also involved in two other road accidents before the Iskcon flyover incident.

Yet another FIR was lodged against Patel after a probe revealed that he had crashed the same car into the premises of a temple complex in Gandhinagar earlier.