A couple of attempts made by the Vile Parle police to get film actress Preity Zinta to record her statements in the fatal hit-and-run case which she had helped them to detect, have gone in vain. The police now is forced to file the chargesheet with photocopies of newspaper reports and her tweets about the incident on a social networking site.
On April 21, Preity Zinta had witnessed the accident on the Western Express Highway while she was on her way to the airport to catch a flight to Punjab for an IPL match.
She noted down the registration number and passed it on to the police, who used it to nab the driver Prashant Mahadik, who is now booked for causing death due to negligence.
An ambulance had hit Ganpat Gaunak (57), a pedestrian, who was crossing the road with his wife. Gaunak fractured his legs in the accident and succumbed to his injuries in the hospital around eight days after the accident.
After the accident, Preity had tweeted, “ I saw a man crossing the highway and a white ambulance hit him and RUN. This is insane. Yes he was wrong to cross like that but an ambulance hitting and running is shocking... Called the cops and informed them. I’ve never understood why people just blindly cross highways when it’s dangerous and not allowed? (sic)”
A senior official, who did not wish to be named, said, “We contacted her (Zinta) a couple of times after the IPL ended, but she said she was busy with work commitments.”
Investigating officer, sub-inspector Rajesh Patil said, “Her statements could have made our chargesheet stronger but now we are going ahead with the statements of Gaunak’s wife who witnessed the accident. We have added Zinta’s tweets and paper cuttings in the chargesheet which will be filed before the magistrate’s court in a few days.”