Maharashtra: Lover accuses bureaucrat’s son of trying to get her killed

A 26-year-old woman in Maharashtra has alleged that her boyfriend, who is the son of a senior bureaucrat, asked his driver to run her over, which left her in hospital with severe injuries. The alleged incident took place near a hotel in Thane city on December 11, police said on Friday (December 15).

The police have registered a case against the accused, Ashwajit Gaikwad, and two others under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 279 (rash driving), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and others at Kasarvadavali police station. However, no arrest has been made so far. Ashwajit’s father Anil Gaikwad is the managing director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.

According to police, the incident took place around 4.30 am on Monday near a hotel on Ghodbunder Road, where the woman, Priya Singh, had gone to meet Ashwajit. “An argument broke out between the two. Later, when the victim collected her belongings from his car and started leaving, the one who was driving the vehicle tried to mow her down, due to which she fell down and suffered serious injuries,” a police official told news agency PTI.

Singh has told the media that she was in a relationship with Ashwajit for four and a half years. Later, in an Instagram post, she detailed the incidents of that day. She has claimed that Ashwajit called her at 4 am on Monday to meet him at a function, where his family and some of their common friends were also present. 

According to Singh, when she wanted to have a private chat with Ashwajit, who was behaving strangely, he and a friend verbally abused and physically assaulted her. “My boyfriend slapped me, tried to strangle my neck, I tried to push him away he bit my hand, beat me, pulled my hair, and his friend out of nowhere pushed me to the ground,” she has alleged in her post.

He allegedly snatched her phone and bag, too, during the argument. As she tried to retrieve those from his car, Ashwajit allegedly told his driver to run her over. “…I heard him say “uda de usko” (kill her) to his driver,” she has alleged in her post.

Singh has claimed that she lay on the road for half an hour before a passerby came to her help. Apparently, Ashwajit’s driver returned to check her situation and took her to hospital seeing the stranger there. She is still undergoing treatment in that hospital.

“My right leg is broken and I had to undergo surgery, had to put rod in my right leg. I have bruises all over my body, my arms, my back, and my stomach area is deeply scrapped,” Singh has written in her post.

She has also alleged that his friends are threatening her sister because she has filed an FIR. “I’m really terrified. I’m very scared for my family and myself. I don’t feel safe. I have lost all faith in humanity. I don’t know if my life is ever going to be normal,” her Instagram post reads.

(With agency inputs)