Sabyasachi Nishank, the 40-year-old hotel chain owner arrested for driving in an inebriated state and trying to hit a cop and smashing police barricades and vehicles, is a repeat offender, as per the probe.
In 2009, when he was just 25 years old, the Worli resident was named in a case of rash driving and attempt to run over a traffic constable, found the investigation. According to the FIR filed back then, Nishank had rammed his Honda CRV into a traffic constable, who slipped into coma before recovering. The hotelier and his friend Sagar Kumar were on their way to pick up the former’s girlfriend for her birthday party when the incident took place at the Milan Junction, Santacruz. Nishank and Kumar were arrested for attempt to murder after the 2009 incident at Milan Junction, Santacruz. It was later revealed that the Honda CRV was stolen in 2008 and Nishank had bought it for Rs22 lakh in cash.
Meanwhile in the latest case, the police have found four bottles of alcohol in the SUV, which was recklessly driven by the hotelier after he didn’t heed the police’s signal to stop. Between 1am and 3am, the accused, who was heavily inebriated, flew into a rage when he was asked to stop during a routine drunk driving check near the Gokhale bridge. He was driving towards Andheri after dropping off a friend when the incident took place. The ensuing chase involved teams from the Andheri and MIDC police stations along with a BMW, an auto-rickshaw and three motorcyclists. The 4.9-km pursuit ended at SEEPZ bus stop.
Nishank’s medical examination revealed that his blood alcohol content was 42.5/100, significantly exceeding the permissible limit. Initially, he was charged under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 281 (rash driving or riding), 324 (causing loss or damage) and the Motor Vehicles Act provision 185 (drunk driving). The police have now added BNS section 110 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) as his reckless driving nearly endangered the lives of officers and others on the road.
Nishank is scheduled to appear in court today (December 2) as his police custody ends.
QUICK RECAP
Incident took place in wee hours of Thursday
Accused was driving in heavily inebriated state
He didn’t heed police signal, instead tried to run over a cop
During a hot chase, he smashed into barricades, private vehicles
