Panaji, September 4 – Amit Palekar, the Chief of Goa’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has been granted bail by a local court in the Mercedes accident case. Palekar was arrested late Thursday evening, and the hearing continued on Monday.
The court confirmed his interim bail, which had been granted on August 31, 2023, under certain conditions. These conditions include posting a bail bond and bond of surety amounting to Rs 50,000 each, full cooperation in the ongoing investigation, non-tampering with evidence or witnesses, and not leaving India without court permission. These conditions were outlined by Cholu M. Gauns, Additional Sessions Judge, Panaji, sitting at Ponda, in his order on Monday.
Palekar, who was the AAP’s Chief Ministerial candidate during the 2022 Assembly election, was arrested under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC on Thursday. He faces allegations of attempting to mislead the police by using a dummy car driver to protect the car owner from arrest following a fatal accident.
The incident occurred on August 6, when a speeding Mercedes collided with three cars and two two-wheelers on the Banastari bridge in Ponda taluka, resulting in three fatalities and critical injuries to three others. Initially, witnesses claimed a woman was driving the car, but the police later arrested Paresh Sinai Sawardekar, the husband of Meghana Sawardekar, in connection with the case. Subsequently, the court granted conditional bail to the couple.
Opposition parties in Goa have criticized the state government’s handling of Palekar’s arrest, alleging it to be a move by the BJP government to target INDIA bloc leaders.
