This story is from August 19, 2019

Kolkata: Before accident, biryani chain scion broke signals twice

Arsalan Parwez, the scion of the eponymous biryani chain, is a habitual traffic offender, who had violated at least two traffic lights before the final, fateful one at the Loudon Street-Shakespeare Sarani crossing in the early hours of Saturday.
Kolkata: Before accident, biryani chain scion broke signals twice
Image used for representational purpose
KOLKATA: Arsalan Parwez, the scion of the eponymous biryani chain, is a habitual traffic offender, who had violated at least two traffic lights before the final, fateful one at the Loudon Street-Shakespeare Sarani crossing in the early hours of Saturday.
Parwez, allegedly at the wheel of a Jaguar Land Rover F-Pace, disregarded stop lights at the Russel Street-Middleton Street and the Middleton Street-JL Nehru Road crossings before ramming the car into the belly of a Mercedes E 220 at a speed of 100kmph-120kmph at 1.50am on Saturday, sending the latter hurtling towards a traffic kiosk.
A group of three Bangladeshi tourists, who were trying to hail a cab, took the full impact, leaving two of them dead and the third, along with the occupants of the Mercedes, injured. Parwez initially fled the spot, leaving the car behind, but reportedly surrendered at the office of the DC South of Kolkata Police 10 hours later.
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Cops have also found out that the car has accrued as many as 48 citation cases over the past nine months — 47 for speeding violations, caught on digital speed guns. Relatives have confirmed that Parwez had been driving the car regularly since he came back from the UK after his post-graduation last August.
On Sunday, a magistrate cancelled Parwez’s bail plea after the public prosecutor told the court that the 22-year-old University of Edinburgh graduate had been speeding on a rainy night with “full knowledge” that his rash driving could lead to someone’s death in case of an accident. On being asked about police inaction about the 48 pending citations, a senior officer said: “We may cancel his licence if it’s true.”
“As far as we have found out, he was out on a pleasure ride on Friday night,” said an officer probing the case. “He left home around 10.30pm and drove through several parts of east, south and central Kolkata and even halted at least at one party zone before resuming the drive, when the accident took place. There are some discrepancies in his statement about his whereabouts prior to the accident, and that is why we need him in police custody.”

His relatives, however, claim that Parwez was returning to his Beckbagan home after taking stock of accounts at the Taratala outlet of the biryani chain. “He had not gone for any pleasure ride, but was returning home from our Taratala outlet,” Zulfiqar Ali, a relative, told TOI outside Bankshall court.
On Sunday, Parwez — clad in a black graphic t-shirt, a pair of black trousers and face covered with a white gamchha — was brought to the court in a police jeep around 1.30pm as relative and friends gathered around. He stood expressionless for the entire 20 minutes that he was in the dock, listening to arguments and counter-arguments of the public prosecutor and his lawyers.
“The accused is a learned young man and was well aware of the consequences of driving at a breakneck speed as he skipped a traffic signal at the Loudon Street-Shakespeare Sarani crossing, hitting another car and dragging it for a good 20 metres, before sandwiching the two Bangladeshi tourists. The occupants of the car he had hit are still fighting for their lives in hospital,” said public prosecutor Abhijit Chattopadhyay.
The defence counsel tried to argue that since Parwez’s car hadn’t hit the two Bangladeshi victims, Section 304 II of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) did not fit in this case. They even flashed Parwez’s academic qualification certificates in an attempt to argue that he was a man of discipline. “The victims standing on the footpath were hit by the other car. So, technically, my client’s car never hit the two Bangladeshi tourists. Moreover, the occupants of the car, which had collided with Parwez’s car, are still alive. So, how can he be tried for culpable homicide not amounting to murder?” asked defence counsel Debojyoti Sengupta. Sengupta even urged the magistrate to consider the fact that it was raining heavily that night, which may have caused the car to skid.
Acting chief metropolitan magistrate, Alokananda Sarkar, ordered Parwez to be sent to police custody till August 30. However, after the defence counsel pleaded further, citing his age and academic qualifications, she reduced the custody period by a day. The magistrate also allowed the prosecution to add sections 308 IPC (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and Section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act along with the existing IPC sections of 279 (rash driving) and 304 II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
“We will use the custody period to question him in detail about where he had been, and about his history of overspeeding. We will also try and reconstruct the sequence of events in a day or two, taking him to the spot,” said a senior Lalbazar officer.
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About the Author
Tamaghna Banerjee

Tamaghna Banerjee, a reporter from Kolkata, covers crime, aviation, human rights and politics. He has a keen interest in human interest and rural reporting. He has done his postgraduation in journalism and mass communication. He has a total of 14 years in journalism.

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