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Sunday, January 31, 2010

Eight-peg ‘beautician’ runs over cop & biker


A woman driving under the influence of alcohol 15 times more than the permissible limit smashed her SUV into a police squad monitoring road rogues a little after midnight, crushing to death a motorcyclist who had been stopped for a routine check and a sub-inspector.

Nooriya Yusuf Haveliwala, who claimed to be a beautician by profession and a resident of upmarket Colaba in south Mumbai, has been arrested and remanded in police custody till Friday.

The accident occurred near Maharshi Karve Road at Marine Lines around 12.30am when Nooriya rammed her Honda CRV into the police patrol.

Eyewitnesses said Nooriya lost control of her vehicle and first struck a motorbike rider, Afzal Mukhmojia, 35, who was being checked. The SUV then hit a police jeep.

Sub-inspector Dinanath Shinde, 40, died in the intensive care unit of Bombay Hospital. Constables Ashok Shinde, 41, and Shivram Shinde, 52, were discharged after treatment, while two others are still being treated.

Nooriya, who escaped unhurt, has been charged with rash and negligent driving, causing grievous hurt, and culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The last charge under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code is punishable with life imprisonment.

“Tests revealed she had alcohol content of 457ml per mg of blood. The permissible limit is 30ml per mg. Three beer cans were recovered from her car,” deputy commissioner (traffic) Nandkumar Chaughule said. Traffic police sources said the quantity of alcohol indicated she was driving after consuming approximately eight pegs of liquor.

Police sources said Nooriya claimed to be a beautician and had returned to Mumbai after a stay in the US. “Her father Yusuf Haveliwala is a doctor and is 72 years old,” a police officer said.

Asked if Nooriya was returning from a party, her counsel Sayaji Nangre said: “I can’t comment on anything. We have moved an application in court that the media should not be allowed to publish any information about my client,” he said. The court is yet to give its verdict on the application.

A police official said the two constables undergoing treatment were badly injured. “One has several broken bones below the waist, and the other has an injured knee cap. Both will take several months to recover fully.”

Sub-inspector Shinde, who died, is survived by his wife and two children.

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