Mumbai: Police in Thane have booked the son of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation managing director Anil Gaikwad, his friend and a driver for assaulting a 26-year-old woman. The victim, identified as Priya Singh, is a social media influencer who runs a beauty salon with her elder sister in Thane.
In her complaint submitted at the Kasarvadavli police station, Singh claimed that on December 11 at around 1am, her boyfriend and son of the MSRDC managing director Ashwajit Gaikwad called her to a party at the Courtyard in Ovla, Thane. Upon reaching the venue around 3am, she saw Gaikwad with another woman, who others said was his wife. Gaikwad refused to talk to her despite several attempts, while his friend Romil Patil abused her. When she asked Gaikwad to stop Patil from abusing her, he slapped and strangled her, bit her hand and pushed her away, she stated.
In her complaint as well as a social media post, she further mentioned, “While they got into the car and started moving, I realised that my phone and purse was in the car. As soon as I reached the door of the Range Rover, I heard him (Ashwajit Gaikwad) say ‘uda de isko’ (ram into her) to his driver Sagar. He sped up immediately and I fell to the ground as I was hit by the left side of the car, after which he drove the rear left wheel over my right leg.” The bone below her right knee fractured from the impact and required surgical intervention. Gaikwad’s driver also threatened her not to complain about the incident while taking her to the hospital, she wrote.
The victim’s elder sister Akanksha Singh alleged Gaikwad and his accomplices tried to murder her sister. “But the police have merely registered an accident case. Why? Is it because he is the son of the managing director of MSRDC?”
Akansha said Priya had been in a relationship with Gaikwad for four and a half years. “He often came for our family functions and was always insisting my sister to get married. She came to know about his marriage only recently and wanted to leave the city, but he convinced her saying he was divorced. After all this cheating, he just ordered his driver to ram into her, which she doesn’t even deserve,” she said.
HT tried to contact the MSRDC chief Anil Gaikwad for comment, but he did not respond to calls and messages.
Senior police inspector Sunil Patil from the Kasarvadavli police station said all three accused were charged under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 279 (rash driving on a public way) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code. “We are investigating CCTV footage of the site, talking to witnesses and probing other matters in detail. We have also called Ashwajit to record his statement,” he said.
