During Mumbai Crash, Accused Driver Says He Was Plugging In Phone Charger

The driver of the sports utility vehicle (SUV), which rammed into multiple vehicles at the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai killing five persons, was on Thursday sent to one-day police custody by a local court even as he told cops he was trying to plug in the mobile phone charger at the time of the pre-dawn crash.

The SUV driver, Irfan Abdul Rahim Bilakiya, was arrested from his residence at Mohammed Ali Road in South Mumbai on Wednesday, hours after the accident.

The 40-year-old was book under IPC sections 304A (death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), among others after an FIR (first information report) was registered against him at the Worli Police Police Station.

Mr Bilakiya was produced before the court which sent him in police custody till Friday, a police official said.

Mr Bilakiya, who is into construction business, was returning home from suburban Jogeshwari when he allegedly rammed his SUV into three stationary cars and an ambulance on the bridge at around 3 am on Wednesday, police have said.

Five persons were killed and eight others injured in the accident.

After the accident, the SUV driver went to Saifee Hospital, where he received treatment for hand injury and afterwards proceeded to his residence from he was arrested later in the day, said the police official.

The police took the help of CCV footage of the Sea Link and obtained details of his vehicle before arresting Mr Bilakiya, he said.

During interrogation, Mr Bilakiya told the police he was trying to plug in the charger of his mobile phone due to which he lost sight of the road ahead and rammed his SUV into the vehicles, he said.

The police were ascertaining if the SUV driver was under the influence of alcohol and have sent his blood samples for forensic examination, the official said.

They were also examining whether the SUV was speeding on the 5.6km-long cable-stayed bridge, which connects Bandra in the western suburbs to Worli in south Mumbai, he said.

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