The alcohol level in the blood of corporate lawyer Janhavi Gadkar, who allegedly rammed her car into a taxi killing two persons on Eastern Freeway, was about four times more than the permissible limit.
“Preliminary reports have suggested that the lawyer had an intake of alcohol four times than the permissible limits,” a police source said quoting initial forensic report which confirms that the 35-year-old lawyer was heavily drunk at the time of the incident on June 9.
Legally, blood alcohol concentration is permissible upto 0.03 per cent, 30 mg per 100 ml of blood.
But, Gadkar’s sample shows the presence of about 120 mg of alcohol concentration in 100 mg of blood, said the source.
“The forensic laboratory put this (case) on priority to give the preliminary report on our request,” the source said, adding, that it would take another few days for the final report to be compiled.
The preliminary report came amid police’s finding that Gadkar had visited a pub in south Mumbai after having six pegs of whisky at a hotel on Marine Drive on the fateful night.
“We have got CCTV footage where Janhavi is seen entering the pub. However, anything more can be said only after further investigation into the matter,” RCF police station’s senior inspector Dilip Raut said.
“We are trying to ascertain if she had few more pegs after entering into the pub,” Raut said.
Two persons, Mohammad Abdul Sayyad (55) and Mohammad Salim Sabuwala (50), were killed after their taxi was hit by a car driven by Gadkar, who was allegedly in an inebriated condition, in the early hours of Tuesday on the Eastern Freeway here. Subsequently, she was arrested and remanded in police custody. Janhavi Gadkar Sent to Judicial Custody Till June 26.
The police’s argument is that she was so intoxicated that she does not remember where she took the wrong lane. “If she was intoxicated how could she tell them? There is a contradiction in their statement,” argued defence counsel. “If remand is required merely to verify her statement, there should be judicial custody.”
During questioning, the 35-year-old lawyer had said that she had visited a restaurant and met her colleagues, where she consumed two pegs of whiskey to celebrate a new project, the police have claimed. Later she slept inside her car at the Marine Drive for two hours to get sober, she reportedly said.
