The 20-year-old man accused in the last week’s Ahmedabad bridge accident which claimed nine lives has told police he also rammed an SUV into the compound wall of a restaurant here on July 3, an official said on Monday (July 24).
The accused, Tathya Patel, "confessed" to police about his involvement in the incident earlier this month after the restaurant owner approached the city traffic police on Saturday to lodge a complaint against the unidentified driver of Thar SUV, the official said.
In his police complaint, restaurant owner Mihir Shah said the registration number of the Thar SUV that rammed into the compound wall of his establishment on July 3 was similar (barring one alphabet) to the number of Jaguar car driven by Patel that ploughed into a crowd gathered on the ISKCON flyover on July 20.
Nine persons, including a constable, were killed when the speeding Jaguar car driven by Patel ploughed into a crowd gathered at an accident site on the ISKCON bridge here on July 20, police said.
Patel, who was also injured, was arrested the same day and is currently in police custody.
Notably, the FIR registered at 'N' Traffic police station here on Saturday in connection with the incident at the restaurant, located in Bodakdev area of the city, does not name Patel as an accused.
Shah in his complaint said the driver drove off after causing damage to the compound wall in the early hours of July 3 and the CCTV cameras at the restaurant only managed to capture the number plate of the Thar SUV.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Neeta Desai said, "When we asked Tathya Patel about that incident, he confessed that he was driving that Thar (SUV) when it crashed into the wall of the restaurant at around 3.30 am on July 3. We have registered a separate FIR in this connection." As per the FIR, Shah received a call from the security guard in early hours of July 3 that a Thar SUV driver had rammed his vehicle into the compound wall near the restaurant’s entrance.
While the wall near the entrance collapsed due to the impact, the SUV driver drove off after causing the crash, said the FIR.
When Shah checked the CCTV footage, it revealed the registration number of the vehicle.
In his complaint, Shah stated he did not approach police at that time as the loss was nominal.
However, when he learnt that the person who was driving the SUV could be the same person who was allegedly responsible for the ISKCON flyover crash, he approached the police to lodge a complaint.
In his complaint, Shah said the registration numbers of vehicles involved in the two accidents were similar.
The FIR in the restaurant incident has been registered against an unidentified driver under
Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 279 (driving or riding on a public way so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life) and 427 (mischief causing loss or damage to the amount of Rs 50 or upwards).
In connection with the July 20 accident on the ISKCON flyover, the police have arrested Tathya Patel and his father Pragnesh Patel and the FIR has been registered under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 279 (driving or riding on a public way so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
