Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: In a significant legal relief for 23-year-old Ankit Tripathy, an Odisha native accused in last year’s fatal Old Mandovi Bridge accident, the North Goa Additional Sessions Court has ruled that the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder cannot be sustained.
The court observed that the material placed on record did not justify framing the more serious offence and ordered that the case be transferred to the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) for trial on lesser charges. Tripathy will now face proceedings for rash and negligent driving, endangering human life, and causing death by negligence. The Judge also directed that action under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act — which deals with driving under the influence of alcohol — should continue.
Tripathy has been instructed to appear before the JMFC on December 17.
The accident occurred on February 22, 2024, at around 4:55 pm, when Tripathy was allegedly driving a rent-a-car from Panaji towards Porvorim in a 30 kmph, no-overtaking zone on the Old Mandovi Bridge. Police claim he was intoxicated and lost control, causing the vehicle to veer into the oncoming lane and crash head-on into a motorcycle ridden by 38-year-old Javed Navaz Sadekar of Nachinola.
The collision hurled Sadekar off the bridge and into the Mandovi River. A massive joint search operation followed, involving Goa Police, Fire and Emergency Services, the Captain of Ports, Drishti Marine lifeguards, the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. Helicopters and deep-sea divers were deployed. Sadekar’s body was recovered the next day.
With the culpable homicide charge set aside, the case will now proceed before the lower court under offences linked to negligence and drunk driving.
