Sea link accident: Chargesheet claims accused was speeding but no e-challan generated

The chargesheet has cited a report from the Regional Transport Office on the speed of the car. “The car crossed 70 poles on the sea link.

The distance between each pole is 40 metres. Based on the calculation as per the CCTV grab of the incident, the time taken for the total distance till the pole where the accident took place was 92 seconds. Therefore, the car was being driven at the average speed of 109.57 kmph,” the RTO report referred to by the police stated. The chargesheet has also given a breakdown of the time taken between poles claiming that the poles between 68 to 77 were covered within nine seconds at a higher speed than the average. This analysis was also based on CCTV footage.

For its probe, the police had also written to the multimedia cell of the Mumbai Police Traffic Headquarters through which e-challans are generated in case of violations including speeding. The official of the cell wrote to the police that on the basis of Automatic Number-Plate Recognition cameras which are near the toll plaza of the sea link, vehicles above the speed of 80kmph are fined and an e-challan is generated.

The cell told the police that the car being driven by the accused on the day of the incident did not have any e-challan issued to it. It also said that apart from the one spot where the ANPR cameras are installed at the sea link, no other speed tracking equipment is installed on the entire stretch.

Apart from this, the chargesheet also includes statements of twowitnesses, including toll plaza employees. The witnesses have said that there was a tyre burst in another car on the sea link following which other cars had halted in the fourth lane to assist the occupants.

The witnesses claimed that reflector cones and hand-held LED device was being used to alert motorists but the accused was driving at a high speed from the first to fourth lane and caused the accident.

While arguing for bail, lawyer Niteen Pradhan representing Bilakhya told the court that the police had not submitted a report ruling out that the car had a mechanical failure, which could have caused the accident. Prosecutor J N Suryawanshi opposed the bail stating that the investigation in the case is yet to be completed and some of the victims are still in hospital whose statements have not been recorded so far.