Months after the DN Nagar police termed the death of a 43-year-old businessman Ajay Gala, as a hit and run accident, the high court recently directed them to probe the possibility of a planned murder made to look as an accident.

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A division bench of Justices NH Patil and Anuja Prabhudessai while directing a senior police inspector under the guidance of the assistant commissioner of police to carry out the investigations said, "The incident is a clear accident or made to be looked like an accident. The police will have to probe deeper into it. Until that is done the police cannot file a charge sheet in the case." The sister of the deceased Seema Gala, had moved HC through her advocate Divakar Diwedi, alleging that the police had not carried out a fair and detailed probe. It was argued before the court that a strong suspicion is there that the accused Vishal Desai, had knocked down the deceased, in a pre-planned way. The police had not considered the murder angle.

Diwedi informed the court that as per details emerging, on November 7, 2013, the accused was present in the same restaurant. The accused had left the restaurant an hour before Gala had left the place, thus there could not have been any possible reason why he was in the same area when the deceased came out of the restaurant. The court said, "The incident in question is required to be investigated further from the angle of apprehension made by the petitioner. The investigating agency shall have to investigate as to whether the death of Gala is homicidal or accidental one."

Gala died in a hit-and-run accident that took place in Andheri (W) around 1.45am last year. The deceased, was standing with three friends near BSES Hospital, when he was hit hard by a speeding Mahindra Xylo SUV and dragged him a few metres from the spot. The driver fled from the spot but a part of the number plate broke off. It was this broken number plate, which had helped officials of DN Nagar police station to track down the culprit.