PIL seeks charge of culpable homicide against Anahita Pandole in Cyrus Mistry death

The petitioner said he has evidence that Dr. Pandole was under the influence of alcohol while driving at the time of the accident

A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed before the Bombay High Court seeking a direction from the court to add culpable homicide in the First Information Report (FIR) against Dr. Anahita Pandole, who was driving the car that crashed leading to former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry’s death.

The PIL filed by Sandesh Jedhe urged the court to direct Kasa police station in Palghar district to add Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code in the FIR against Dr. Pandole.

On September 4, 2022, Dr. Pandole was driving a car on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway when it crashed, killing Mistry and Jehangir Pandole and injuring her and her husband.

Hearing the plea, a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne said, “This is a job of a magistrate. It is the magistrate who can decide what charges to put. You (petitioner) want the high court to do the functions of the magistrate? What is your locus standi? How are you concerned in this case?”

Mr. Jedhe’s advocate Sadiq Ali claimed that his client has evidence that Dr. Pandole was under the influence of alcohol while driving at the time of the accident. In his petition, Mr. Jedhe referred to a CCTV footage indicating that Dr. Pandole had been allegedly consuming liquor at a café the night before the accident.

Senior advocate Aabad Ponda appearing for Dr. Pandole said, “It is premised on the imagination that she was under alcohol. There were tests conducted by the police.” Public prosecutor Aruna Kamat Pai added, “The tests were negative.”

Advocate Ali, however, said he has more material to prove his case. The court adjourned the matter to be heard on January 17.