Mumbai: Vile Parle Resident Acquitted In 1987 Hit-And-Run Case After Key Witness Fails To Identify Him

Mumbai: The metropolitan magistrate court, on Monday, acquitted a Vile Parle resident, Narayan Babu Kotiyan, 38 years after he was booked in a hit and run case wherein one person was killed and nine were injured.

About The Case

Kotiyan was acquitted as the complainant could not identify him in court. As per the prosecution, Kotiyan was booked on the complaint of Cedric DeSilva, who worked as an engineer at Okanagan Helicopter Ltd, Juhu Airport. DeSilva claimed that on New Year’s Eve in 1987, he and a few others decided to go for a drive after dinner near the Gateway of India.

He claimed that he and his friend Carol Canet left on the his bike, while other members of the group – Stepe Pereira, Nazim Khan, Wilton Rubello, Salit DeSilva, Sherry Gonsalves, Sharon Gonsalves, Keith Gonsalves, Larry Pereira, Danny Pereira, and Valerian John Fernandes – left by the jeep, which was being driven by Pereira with Fernandes sitting next to him. They took the sea-facing road, passed the Taj Mahal Hotel, and turned right to enter Best Road. At SB Road, around 6 am, a speeding Ambassador car coming from the side of Regal Cinema towards Colaba hit the jeep and sped away. However, the jeep turned turtle, killing Gonsalves, sitting in the rear seat.

The Ambassador allegedly stopped in front of Electric House. DeSilva, who was on his bike, saw the car and noted the number, later reporting it to the police. He rushed to rescue the injured and found that Pereira had fallen out and come under the wheels, and Gonsalves was motionless. The others had also received severe injuries. Kotiyan was traced on the basis of the car number. The charges in the case were framed in February 1991, and DeSilva was examined only in November 1992.

Thereafter, there was hardly any progress in the case. DeSilva narrated the incident in his testimony but could not identify Kotiyan, saying he could not see his face as the car was speeding. The court noted that the case was picked up as per the directions of the high court to clear pending cases. Checking the records, the prosecution requested to close the evidence, submitting that no other witnesses were found.