Shocking: High-profile lawyer rams Audi Q3 into cab in Mumbai; kills two

Driving while intoxicated is a crime. Alcohol affects attentiveness and one’s ability to make quick decisions on the road. An estimated 32 per cent of fatal car crashes across the world involve an intoxicated driver or a pedestrian. The perils of drinking and driving are once again highlighted in a recent incidence that occurred in Mumbai bringing two different celebrations to a tragic end in the dead of the night.

Janhavi Gadkar, 35, a Vice-President with the legal team at Reliance Industries Limited was returning home after celebrating a corporate deal. While Salim Saboonwala, 50, and his family were returning home post a dinner celebrating the success of their son who achieved over 90 per cent in his SSC exam.

An inebriated Gadkar was speeding her Audi Q3 at more than 120kmph on the wrong side of the Eastern Freeway ramming into the taxi in which Saboonwala’s family was travelling. The 35-year-old legal expert was returning back to her home in Chembur after a night out with two friends at a south Mumbai hotel in Chembur.

Such was the impact of the crash that the entire front of the taxi was crushed, instantly killing its 57-year-old driver, Mohamed Sayyed. Saboonwala, who on the other hand suffered severe injuries, was taken to Sion hospital where he was pronounced dead. Saboonwala’s wife Hafeeza is in the ICU with three fractures while his daughters Sadiya and Salma have suffered from injuries as well. Gadkar was saved as her Q3’s airbag deployed.

Reports suggest that the impact of the collision was such that a fire brigade team had to cut open the vehicles to rescue the victims and remove the bodies. Gadkar has admitted that she entered the wrong carriageway of the expressway and continued to drive for at least 10km till she hit the taxi.

The 35-year-old lawyer has been charged with rash driving and culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sent to police custody.