Team Goemkarponn
MARGAO: The Margao Sessions Court has granted bail to Vidyadhar alias Vipul Prabhu, 32, who was arrested in connection with the fatal Sancoale crash in which a motorcycle was allegedly dragged for nearly 2.5 km beneath a Mercedes car.
Prabhu, a Fatorda resident, was granted bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and one surety of the same amount.
The accident occurred on September 4 when Prabhu was allegedly driving from Upasnagar towards Cortalim via Shindolim. According to Verna Police, he was allegedly under the influence of alcohol when his car moved towards the extreme right of the road on the Shindolim slope and collided with an oncoming motorcycle.
The collision left motorcycle rider Ashok Kumar Chauhan, 42, and pillion rider Sonu Kumar, 24, both from Palamu, Jharkhand, critically injured. Police alleged that Prabhu fled the spot with the motorcycle lodged beneath his vehicle, dragging it for around 2.5 km.
The friction between the vehicles reportedly triggered a fire, engulfing both the car and motorcycle. While local residents managed to pull Prabhu out of the burning vehicle, Chauhan was declared brought dead at the South Goa District Hospital in Margao.
Verna Police subsequently booked Prabhu for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Opposing the bail plea, the public prosecutor highlighted the seriousness of the allegations and submitted that the offence could attract life imprisonment.
Defence counsel Adv Amarnath Dessai argued that the deceased was a stranger to Prabhu and there was no material indicating any premeditated intention to cause his death. The defence contended that the allegations, at most, attracted the ‘knowledge without intention’ component of the offence, which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years.
The court, while considering the distinction between intention and knowledge, observed that the material placed before it did not indicate any intention on Prabhu’s part to cause the death of the victim.
The court noted that the alleged dragging of the motorcycle could prima facie indicate knowledge that the act was likely to cause death.
It therefore held that the case fell under the second part of Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which carries a punishment not exceeding 10 years.
While granting bail, the court directed Prabhu to deposit Rs 1 lakh with the court, refundable upon filing of the chargesheet.
He was also ordered to surrender his mobile phone for police monitoring for at least one month, cooperate with the investigation and not leave Goa without prior permission.
