Mumbai road accident: Police nab 23-year-old driver, accused of mowing down tech firm CEO

The Mumbai Police arrested a 23-year-old man, hours after the road crash incident in Mumbai's Worli area, wherein a 57-year-old CEO of a technology firm was killed. 

The police have identified the accused as Sumer Merchant (23), a resident of Tardeo, Mumbai. He is being prosecuted further under Section of 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Accused Merchant, is employed with an event management company that provides talent for Bollywood films, claims report. 

Accused sent to two-day police custody

The accused was presented in the court on Monday, where he was sent to two-day police custody. As per police, the accused had also suffered minor injuries on his face when the windshield of the car shattered due to the crash. 

According to the police, the accused revealed during the interrogation that there was a party at his residence, post which he and his friend were driving a female colleague to her residence located in the Shivaji Park area. The accused claimed that he did not see the woman jogger as it was a ‘blind spot’. 

However, it is being suspected that the accused driver was either drunk or may have dozed off while driving, and lost control of his car. Blood samples have been collected to ascertain whether the accused was driving inebriated. 

The incident took place on Sunday morning at around 6.30 am, when a speeding car mowed down a 57-year-old CEO of a tech firm near Worli Milk Dairy located near Worli-Banda sealink, while she was jogging. 

The car knocked her so hard that she died on the spot. According to eyewitnesses, during the incident, victim Rajalakshmi Vijay, flung in the air and landed several feet away on the road.

Meanwhile, a large group of joggers gathered at Shivaji Park, on Monday morning, to check the progress in the case. They staged a small protest, wherein they demanded the installation of speedometers and CCTV cameras at the Worli Sea Face stretch.