A Thane-based social media influencer was critically injured after her boyfriend of five years allegedly tried to mow her down with his SUV in Owale near Ghodbunder Road during the wee hours of December 11.
Priya Singh, 26, alleged that she had an argument with her boyfriend who is the son of a top bureaucrat in the city, adding that he thrashed her and tried to strangle her before asking his driver to run over her. The man, identified as Ashwajit Gaikwad is the son of Anil Gaikwad, the managing director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.
According to Singh, around 1am on December 11, Ashwajit called her, asking her to join him at a family function in The Courtyard hotel in Owale. When she reached there two hours later, she found her boyfriend's behaviour strange. She then asked him to have a word with her privately and stepped out.
However, Ashwajit and his friends approached her and began abusing her. When she objected to his friend Romil Patil's abusive language, Ashwajit reportedly slapped her and tried to strangle her. When she tried to defend herself, he allegedly thrashed her following which his friend shoved her to the ground, according to her Instagram post.
Later, when Singh tried to retrieve her phone and bag from Ashwajit's car, he allegedly told his driver, Sagar Shelke, to run over her. After being rammed by the car, the woman fell and was critically injured in the right leg.
The three accused – Ashwajit, Patil and Shelke – were charged with IPC sections 279 (rash driving), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 338 (causing grievous hurt), according to police. But Singh has alleged that police officials are not serious about the investigation and that Ashwajit used his political clout to influence the probe.
Ashwajit has dismissed Singh's claims in a statement cited by The Times of India. "Whatever has been portrayed is untrue. She is just a friend. In fact, she came drunk to the hotel where we were having a family function and tried to force me to talk to her. When I refused, she started abusing me. She assaulted my friends when they tried to intervene. Shelke started the SUV so that she steps away, but unfortunately she fell on the road, The accident was not intentional," he told the newspaper.
