Worli Jogger Death: Mumbai Sessions court denies bail to accused

A sessions court on Tuesday rejected the bail application of 23-year-old Sumer Merchant in custody after his arrest in connection with knocking down tech firm CEO Rajalakshmi Vijay in the early hours of March 19.

A detailed order is yet to be available. On March 27, his bail was rejected by a Dadar magistrate court. The very next day, he approached the sessions court for bail through advocate Anjali Patil.

Alcohol above permissible limit in Merchant's blood sample

The prosecution had opposed the relief to him and pointed out that his blood alcohol report received from the Kalina laboratory shows there was 137 mg per 100 ml of blood. The permissible limit as per the Motor Vehicles Act is 30 mg. Prosecutor Ramesh Siroya had also pointed out that as the victim was the CEO of Altrust Customer Management India Pvt. Ltd, the police are also probing if there was foul play and that it is essential to make a detailed investigation on that front. 

Accused tried to flee after accident

The victim’s husband had also intervened in the bail proceedings to oppose it and sought to be heard, which the court permitted. The 60-year-old had said in his submission before the court that the accident, as reported by the eyewitnesses, was gruesome and deadly and that the witnesses themselves were in deep shock.

He said further that as per these accounts, Merchant did not stop the car after his wife got thrown in the air and landed on his car after the accident and tried to flee and drove the car another 100 metres.