All quiet on the home front for Alastair Pereira

It has been six years since this quiet Bandra neighbourhood attained infamy. Nothing much has changed, except that the neighbourhood frowns and turns away at the mention of its most famous occupant; Alistair Pereira.

On January 12, the Supreme Court upheld the Bombay High Court verdict, sentencing Pereira to three years imprisonment for killing seven people in the 2006 hit and run case. The SC observed that the Pereira’s punishment for was too lenient.

“The family is not here. They left before the news came out. They didn’t inform us,” said a neighbour, not wanting to disclose his identity. Neighbours also lamented how their peace had been destroyed by the media, post the incident.

The scene outside the Pereira house is self-explanatory. Newspapers not collected, lying outside the main door. A dirty porch and a dry garden are other signs that the family had left, well in advance.

It was November 12, 2006 when a drunk Pereira, returning from a party ran over seven people, killing them instantaneously and injuring eight others.

In the last six years, the Pereira family has come out in defence of their son once, in an interview with DNA in May 2007. In that, Alistair’s mother Cynthia spoke about how her son was branded a criminal and how he has taken the incident very seriously and has gone into a shell. Since then Pereira lost his father and is an active part of the family business.

The police however remain tight-lipped. Pratap Dighavkar, Deputy Commissioner of police, Zone 9, said, “The SC orders haven’t been received yet. The orders will come to the prison authorities directly. He would then have to surrender.”