Mumbai, Sep 10 (PTI) Congress on Tuesday targeted the ruling party over an accident involving the car of Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s son, stating that making the driver a scapegoat in such cases has become a “new trend” in the state.
There should be a thorough probe including scrutiny of the CCTV footage of the restaurant that Sanket Bawankule and his friends visited before the early Monday morning accident, demanded Leader of Opposition in the assembly Vijay Wadettiwar.
Police arrested the driver of the Audi owned by Sanket Bawankule, the state BJP chief’s son, after the high-end car hit several vehicles in Nagpur city. Sanket was in the car at the time, said a police official. At least two persons were injured in the accident.
“It looks like the home department has started a new project where people can crash their cars, kill people, then blame it on the driver and walk free,” Wadettiwar told reporters.
“Political parties seem to have adopted a new trend for saving their own people after such accidents,” he said, referring to earlier allegations that a local MLA of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP tried to save those responsible for the Porsche car crash in Pune in May, and leaders of the ruling Shiv Sena tried to save a party worker’s son after he ran over a woman in Mumbai’s Worli area.
“The accused persons (in Worli hit-and-run case) were absconding for more than 48 hours, ensuring no alcohol could be found in their blood. Similar pattern was replicated in Nagpur. Now the BJP leader’s son has gone away, and will be found after two-three days, so that no alcohol would be found in his samples,” Wadettiwar alleged.
As per Nagpur police, the arrested driver was inebriated, and Sanket Bawankule was sitting next to him, claimed the Congress leader.
“Who allows a drunk driver to drive? Will the person sitting next to him remain calm?” he asked.
“Everybody is saying that Sanket was driving the car. There should be a thorough probe including scrutiny of the CCTV footage of the restaurant where Bawankule and his friends went for a party. People are saying all of them were under the influence of alcohol. We want the government not to spare any person, irrespective of his parents,” he further said.
The Congress leader also claimed that Chandrashekhar Bawankule contacted the owners of the vehicles damaged in the accident and offered to compensate them, but police had to take cognizance of the matter when the accident footage surfaced on social media.
Wadettiwar also asked why the number plate of the Audi was removed and ‘hidden’. “Who would do such a thing to save a driver? This is unbelievable,” he said. PTI ND KRK
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