The Jubilee Hills police have given a clean chit to Bodhan legislator Mohammed Shakir Amir’s son Raheel Amir since he was not the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident on March 17 which resulted in the death of an infant. According to the police, their investigation has established that it was 19-year-old Syed Afnan Ahmed, Raheel’s cousin, who was driving the SUV. Syed Afnan has since been arrested. Along with Raheel and Afnan three others were in the car. The police have also ruled out the possibility of the youngster driving the car under the influence of alcohol as it was a dry day on account of Holi festival.
The police had initially planned to record the statements of Raheel and others involved in the accident as eye-witnesses in the case but are yet to do so.
“Our investigation has concluded that it was Afnan who was driving the vehicle. We have arrested him. We do not require any statements from the others. We have obtained all necessary evidence. But we have nevertheless approached higher authorities seeking their guidance in the case on whether we should take the statement from others who were present in the vehicle,” said an officer, who is investigating the case.
On March 17, at around 8.30 pm, the vehicle hit three women who were selling balloons on Jubilee Hills Road No 45, the upscale part of Hyderabad. The women were carrying two infants. Under the impact of the collision, one woman dropped her two-month old baby on the road. The baby died shortly.
The accident took place near the Durgam Cheruvu cable bridge. After the accident, the occupants in the car abandoned the vehicle and fled from the spot. The accident garnered attention as the vehicle had an MLA sticker on it.
A day later, the police identified the persons involved in the accident. The police presume that the youngsters were not drunk while driving. “We have bills as proof that the youngsters were returning from McDonalds. Besides, Thursday was a dry day, so it is not possible that they drank somewhere out,” the officer said.
He also said they could not have conclusively proved that the accused was in an inebriated condition. “We caught them after 24 hours. So no testing would establish this.”
MLA Shakir Amir has expressed his regret over the incident and clarified that the car belonged to his cousin. The MLA said that he occasionally uses his car, and that is why the vehicle had the MLA sticker. He said that his son and others fled from the spot after a group of people attacked them.