Panaji, July 21 (TNN): Two young men were critically injured when they were mowed down by an alleged drunk driver speeding down the wrong side of D B Road, around 1am on Sunday morning.
In an incident that exposed the lethargic response of both police and emergency medical services, the victims lay bleeding on the road for at least 25 minutes before an ambulance showed up-an unacceptable response time for an hour when there is hardly any traffic in the city.
Witnesses who rang for help claimed that the police patrol vehicle arrived around 15 minutes after the accident took place, even though the accident occurred near Dempo House, hardly two minutes' drive from Panaji police station. "We were at the spot, and saw one boy stuck under the mangled bumper of the car. Despite calling the police control room and '108' repeatedly, we waited around 15 minutes before the police arrived. We had to pull one victim to safety, out from under the wreckage ourselves," said a Panaji resident who witnessed the accident. Before the ambulance or police could arrive, bystanders were seen attempting to revive the victims by splashing water on them.
The victims, Sandesh Khutkar and Kaiser Braganza, both 19 years old, have been admitted to Goa Medical College and Hospital with multiple injuries. While Khutkar has a broken femur and a ruptured liver with internal bleeding, Braganza has fractured both legs and sustained injuries on his face and head. Both underwent long surgeries, and were still pronounced 'critical' as of Sunday night.
The driver, Shobhika Gaur, 30, a private hospital employee, was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol, and was speeding from Campal towards Panaji, on the wrong lane. "I was returning home when I saw the car come straight at me; at the very last minute I swerved out of its way. The two boys were on a motorbike behind me, and did not have the time to react. I heard a loud crash and there was a head-on collision," said a motorist who barely missed colliding with Gaur's vehicle.
Some unknown persons also tried to sabotage the investigation by smashing the rear license plate of Gaur's car.
A sudden downpour forced the policemen as well as the onlookers to seek shelter away from the accident site. When the police returned to resume their investigation of the vehicle, they were baffled to find that the rear license plate had been smashed and were unable to record the car's registration number. TOI's photographs of the perfectly intact license plate, taken shortly before the cops arrived, provided the information.
A case of dangerous and reckless driving has been registered under the Motor Vehicle Act, said Panaji police. "We do not come across women driving drunk very often, and were quite shocked that this lady also had bottles of alcohol in the vehicle. She is a long-term resident of Goa, and we do not understand why she was driving on the wrong side of the main road. She was taken to Asilo hospital, Mapusa for a blood alcohol test, and we will chargesheet the case once the results come," said PSI Tanaji Malve.
A K Gawas, superintendent of police, traffic, said he would look into the issue, and take strong action. "I will write to the RTO and get the drivers' license suspended," he told TOI. He stated that cases of drunken driving were more common during the tourist season, but went on to deny that traffic police tend to go easy on vehicles registered in Goa, while pulling up tourists for traffic violations. "Everybody is checked equally and we do not go easy on drinking and driving, local or tourist," Gawas said.