Dead designer’s fiancé acquitted

While the family of Dhwani Chheda was rendered heart broken, her fiancé Viral Goradia breathed a sigh of relief when a Bandra court acquitted him of charges of drunken and negligent driving, costing the life of the fashion designer in December 2011.

The Bandra court on Monday pronounced Goradia’s acquittal, paying heed to the defence’s argument that the accident was not caused due to his negligence but due to his car getting hit from behind by another four-wheeler. “The prosecution failed to prove a case under sections 279, 338 and 304(a) of the IPC against my client and hence he was acquitted by the Bandra court. Though the police claimed that he was drunk, there was no medical report submitted on record, weakening their case,” said Goradia’s lawyer Prashant Pansare.

Pansare further explained that Goradia was neither negligent nor rash, nor drunk and that the accident was caused due to another vehicle hitting his car. “There were four witnesses examined by the prosecution in the case. One was a policeman who got a wireless message and reached the spot, two, an auto-rickshaw driver who saw the accident after he heard a thud, and another eyewitness.

The girl’s father, who went to the hospital and was not on the spot, and the investigating officer made the case sans any eyewitness. To top it all, there was no medical report submitted on record, leaving the wireless officer’s accusation of Goradia being drunk baseless.

The mishap occurred on December 2011 when Goradia, 27, lost control of the Honda City he was driving and hit a road divider at Kherwadi junction on the Western Express Highway. His fiancé, Chheda, who was in the car with him, died and Goradia injured his head and fractured his rib cage. Goradia, who stays in the US, had come down to Mumbai to meet a few friends.