Exclusive: ‘Samples collected after 5 hrs; how will Police prove he was drunk?’

Yet again the Worli police have been accused of negligence in a road crash case Friends of Rajlaxmi Ramkrishnan who died after being hit by a speeding car while jogging on Sunday have alleged that Worli cops were late by at least five hours in taking the 23yearold accused for alcoholnarcotics test The cops had faced similar allegations when a motorist knocked down seven people on the BandraWorli Sea link in October 2022There are many unanswered questions related to this case and we have put forth our concerns before the deputy commissioner of policerdquo said Jigs Ashar a friend of RajlaxmiRajlaxmi Ramkrishnan the deceasedldquoOne of the questions we raised was about the policersquos claim of no CCTV footage of the accident which is strange because the road is a VIP route Why are the cops claiming that there is no CCTV footage It would ascertain the speed of the car being driven by the accused and show what really transpired that fateful day Also at what time were his blood and urine samples taken As the accused was arrested before 7 am the samples should have been taken latest by 8 amrdquo Ashar an author and a consultant with the World Bank addedAlso Read Everyone motorist must remember that speed killsAshish Chandak another friend and a fellow runner said ldquoPolice do use breath analysers to find out whether a driverrider is drunk or not So why in this case they didnrsquot use the breath analyser immediately to ascertain if the driver was drunk Every police station has breath analysersrdquoThe vehicle of the accused after the accident in WorlildquoWe are not levelling any allegations against the police but these are the questions that need to be answered and investigators should focus on points we are raisingrdquo he addedTest delayedAround 630 am on Sunday Sumer Merchant a resident of Tardeo hit Rajlaxmi from behind at Worli Sea Face The woman had died on the spot Others on their morning walk caught Sumer and handed him over to the Worli cops who arrived within a few minutes of the accidentAccused Sumer Merchant in a police van File picAtul KamblePolice said that Sumer who had partied all night and was on his way to Shivaji Park to drop her friend off was speeding and could have been intoxicatedAccording to a police source the accused was taken to JJ hospital for a medical test around 10 ammdashabout four hours after the accidentSenior Inspector Anil Koli refuted the allegations of a delay as baseless and said ldquoHe the accused was taken for a test in the morning itselfrdquo However he refused to give the exact time saying ldquoOnce the report comes back everyone will know about itrdquo He also refused to speak on queries about CCTV and breath analyserThe Worli cops faced similar allegations when one Irfan Abdul Rahim Bilkiya rammed into seven people on the Bandra Worli Sea Link killing five of them on October 5 2022 The accident happened around 230 am but he was taken for medical tests at 430 pm 14 hours laterSumer dozed offAccording to the statements of Sumerrsquos friends they mostly consumed vodka at the party at his place while his parents were away However Sumer hasnrsquot disclosed what he had His friends told the cops that Sumer wasnrsquot drinking muchSumer and two of his friends were in the car when the accident happened In his statement to the police Sumer said he might have dozed off because he does not remember how the accident happened ldquoAll of them had their seat belts on and thatrsquos the reason why they sustained minor injuries Sumer has bruises on his hand and face while his friends have bruises on their neck due to friction from the seat beltrdquo police said630amApproximate time of the accident on March 19