Vadodara car crash that killed 1: Gujarat HC grants bail to accused law student

On Monday, Chaurasiya’s counsel pointed out that the co-accused Praanshu Chauhan, who was also the son of car’s owner, had been granted bail by the lower court in Vadodara on the ground that his arrest was “unauthorised”. Chaurasiya’s counsel also submitted that he had “no antecedents until the accident… and had no intention to run away from the scene of the accident as he was apprehended from the scene while Chauhan had escaped.””

While the Assistant Public Prosecutor appearing for the state argued that Chaurasiya’s conduct after the accident involved screaming, “Another round!” and being “remorseless”, as well as a second case of NDPS invoked against the accused by the Vadodara city police, the court orally remarked that the applicant was a “student of 23 years”, who needed “a chance to reform”, as it the object of law.

In an oral order, the court said, “The applicant appears to be a young person, aged around 23… The offence is serious, with the allegation being that he collided with three vehicles, causing injury to eight persons and death of one person… Yet, to this court it would appear that the present applicant being in custody since March 14, 2025 and the chargesheet having been laid in June 2025, the present application for release needs to be considered…”

The orally court noted, “The APP emphasised that the applicant had uttered certain words after the incident happened… more particularly the allegation being that he was under the influence of THC and Codeine at the time of the incident. Having regard to the fact that the applicant is a 23 year old student with no antecendent and the applicant is in custody for nine months… the chargesheet has been filed in June this year.”

The court granted conditional bail, including a surety of Rs 1 lakh as well as a mandatory marking of presence every fortnight with the police station concerned in Vadoara city for the first six months of the bail and thereafter every month. Chaurasiya has also been directed not to leave Gujarat and to inform the Investigating Officer about any change of residential address.

On March 13, Chaurasia, along with his co-accused Praanshu Chauhan were driving, allegedly under the influence of narcotics when Chaurasia crashed the car into three two-wheelers outside Amrapali Shopping complex on a busy street in the Karelibaug area of Vadodara.

The police chargesheet in the case claims that the Event Data Recorder (EDR) report received from the German carmaker, Volkswagen, has confirmed that the car was speeding at 140kmph when Chaurasiya “crashed the vehicle into three two-wheelers” and that FSL report confirmed the presence of Tetra-Hydro Cannabinol (THC) and codeine in the bloodstream and determined that the accused was under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident.