P. Shaji, son of M.P. Purushothaman, chairman of Empee Group of Companies, has alleged the police are falsely implicating him in the drunken driving case that led to the death of a boy in Egmore last week.
He said he had nothing to do with the offence. He and two others were simply travelling in the car driven by another person, said Shaji in his anticipatory bail petition filed in the Madras High Court on Tuesday.
His father, Purushothaman, too has filed a similar petition in the Court. Shaji has filed an advance bail plea in the sessions court too.
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R.M. Kumar (43), the driver arrested in the case, said on Tuesday he was innocent and moved the sessions court seeking bail.
According to Shaji, around 12.30 a.m. on May 23, he received a phone call that a relative of his had fainted.
Along with two friends, he went in the car driven by Kumar. When the vehicle neared the children’s hospital at Egmore, a police patrol jeep came towards it from the wrong direction.
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Kumar lost control and in order to avoid hitting the other vehicle, swerved to the left resulting in the accident. The driver was arrested and remanded.
When his bail petition came up before the XIV Metropolitan Magistrate on May 24, the police filed a report that said, since one of the injured had succumbed, the offence had been altered to IPC Section 304 (II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
In the report, Shaji and the other two passengers were named as accused. Shaji said the case related to an accident and the driver had been arrested. He and the other two were simply passengers.
“The petitioner had a strong suspicion that the police were trying to falsely implicate him despite being aware of the fact that he had nothing to do with the offence,” Shaji’s petition said.
He alleged the investigation was being conducted in a ‘biased manner’ to tarnish his reputation.
Meanwhile, Shaji’s father Purushothaman, in his petition, said the car involved in the accident belonged to the company.
Though he had not been named as an accused in the FIR or the altered report, the police had issued him a notice for an enquiry. He had not even travelled in the vehicle, he said.
In the advance bail plea filed in the sessions court, Shaji said the allegation against him was that he was the owner of the vehicle and an occupant in the car driven by a driver. If released on bail, he would not tamper with evidence, he assured the Court.