Mumbai, February 02: Nooriya Haveliwala, arrested for mowing down two persons when she was allegedly under the influence of alocohol, on Monday claimed she lost control of her car when she sped on seeing another car chase her.
27-year-old Nooriya, a beautician by profession, meanwhile said she would “apologise” for the death of a traffic sub-inspector and a biker in the accident.
“I would of course, I would apologise,” she said from her police vehicle when asked by newsmen whether she would plead guilty for the accident.
Nooriya was arrested on Saturday morning for allegedly ramming her Honda CRV into a bike and a police jeep at Marine Drive in which the biker, Afzal Makhnejiya, and sub-inspector Dina Nath Shinde were killed.
“Nooriya soon after her arrest told the police that she had not more than two pegs of alcohol that night and lost control of her car as someone was chasing,” Additional Commissioner of Police, south Mumbai, R K Padmanabhan told reporters today.
The police have received a report from the Regional Transport Office stating that the car’s brake and tyres were intact.
Recreating the happenings on the fateful day, Nooriya was today taken by the police to the pub where she had partied with her friends on Friday night and to the accident spot.
The police are awaiting the report from the forensic lab to ascertain if Nooriya had consumed drugs also.
“Nooriya who was already speeding, was taking a swig of beer when she lost control of her car and rammed into a taxi first and then the bike and police jeep,” Padmanabhan said.
Shinde’s widow Devyani pleaded that Nooriya be given the toughest sentence. “She should be sentenced to death,” Devyana said.
In the wake of spate of accidents under the influence of alcohol, Mumbai police reportedly wants tougher laws like making it tough for errant derivers to get bail in such cases.
-PTI