New Delhi: Six months after the death of Union Minister Gopinath Munde in a road accident, CBI on Thursday filed a charge sheet against taxi driver Gurvinder Singh for rash and negligent driving while ruling out any foul play.
The CBI chargesheeted Singh under Sections 279 and 304-A of Indian Penal Code for the charges and if found guilty, he will have to undergo a prison sentence of a maximum of two years.
Singh’s car had collided with the official vehicle of the minister at the Prithviraj Road-Tughlak Road roundabout in the heart of the high security Lutyen’s zone when Munde was on his way to the Indira Gandhi Airport on June 3.
Singh had alleged that the Minister’s driver had jumped the traffic signal leading to the accident.
Delhi Police had registered a case against a 32-year-old Singh. The case was later handed over to the CBI which registered a case under sections 279 (rash driving) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of IPC against unknown persons relating to accidental death, CBI spokesperson said.
CBI has already ruled out any foul play in the death of Munde and also claimed to have established “convincingly” that the politician had died due to injuries in a road accident.
64-old Munde, a popular backward class leader from Maharashtra, died due to shock and haemorrhage following injuries to his neck and liver in the road accident, CBI had said in its report.
Several political leaders from Maharashtra had demanded a CBI probe into the accident of Munde, who had then just taken charge as the Rural Development Minister in the Narendra Modi government.
“Investigation was conducted to find out if any foul play or criminal conspiracy was involved in the death of Munde. During the probe a through scrutiny of all possible leads and angles was conducted.
“The antecedents and movements of suspected persons and all persons associated with the Minister were verified. However, the probe has clearly ruled out any foul play in the death of Munde and it has been concluded that he died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident,” the CBI report had said.
During the investigation, CBI had taken the assistance of IIT-Delhi to inspect the scene of crime using customised state -of-the-art forensic technology and software in a bid to ascertain the reasons for such a collision of vehicles on the fateful day of 3 June 2014, a CBI spokesperson said in New Delhi today.
She said that the team from IIT had opined that the accused driver was allegedly driving his car at a speed higher than the prescribed limit of about 50-kmph.
“It was also disclosed that at the time of the collision, the car of the victim (Munde) was travelling at a relatively low speed of around 25-30-kmph,” she said, adding that this finding was also corroborated by the special team from IIT.
CBI said it was also disclosed that the driver of Munde’s car had sounded his horn whilst heading into the crossing where the collision occurred. It said inquiries further suggest that the accident took place due to the rash and negligent driving by the accused.
The spokesperson said CBI also followed other lines of inquiry to ascertain whether the accident could have been motivated by some criminal conspiracy.
“The antecedents of all persons in the personal staff of the victim as well as the driver and those associated with him were minutely probed to ascertain whether there could have been any ground for any collusive and planned conduct, but nothing could be found,” the spokesperson said.
She said that a specially-constituted board of doctors from AIIMS, too, had concluded that the injuries sustained by the victim during the accident were the ones which caused his death.
