india

Updated: Aug 23, 2019 07:43 IST

Raghib Parvez, 24, the elder son of Akhtar Parvez, one of the owners of the Arsalan chain of Mughlai restaurants, who crashed his Jaguar SUV into a Mercedes car last week that led to the death of two Bangladeshis, was sent to police custody for two weeks by a local court Thursday.

Raghib’s brother, Arsalan Parvez, 22, who had taken the blame on himself, and their maternal uncle Muhammad Hamza, who allegedly helped Raghib escape to Dubai, were released on conditional bail by the court. None of them can leave Kolkata. Hamza and Raghib were arrested on Wednesday after the latter returned to Kolkata.

Police have charged Raghib with rash driving, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and attempt to commit culpable homicide.

In an apparent bid to protect his elder son, Akhtar Parvez also told the police after the accident that Arsalan, after whom the business chain is named, was behind the wheel. The chain is popular for its biryani.

During interrogation, Arsalan broke down and admitted that he lied and had given a false statement. He said he was not driving the car. However, he did not tell the police that his brother was driving it.

Joint commissioner of police (crime) Murlidhar Sharma said on Wednesday that Raghib was arrested outside a nursing home in south Kolkata. “He confessed that he was driving the Jaguar,” said Sharma.

“The Jaguar’s airbags were activated by the crash. However, during Arsalan’s medical test, we could not find any trace of silicone particles that inflated air bags leave on the face of passenger in 99 % cases. It is called silicone bite,” said Sharma.

Almost simultaneously as Arsalan confessed that he was not in the car, the police zeroed in on Raghib with the help of the car’s onboard processor.

“We cracked the case after going through the Jaguar’s infotainment and communication data stored in the onboard processor. The phone number of the person who drove the vehicle before the crash had been recorded. That’s how we came to know about Raghib and matched his social media profile photo with the footage recorded by security cameras at the crash site,” said Sharma.

“The cameras on the streets showed a young person running away (after the crash). We examined every frame recorded by not only police cameras but also the ones installed in private buildings. Also, CCTV footage found at the residence of the accused showed him getting into the vehicle alone at 11.30 pm on August 16 and driving out,” Sharma said.

Scrutiny of CCTV footage earlier revealed that the Jaguar F-Pace SUV jumped a few traffic signals before crashing into businessman Amit Kajaria’s Mercedes E Class. Kajaria and his wife Kanika are admitted in a private hospital in south Kolkata.

The high-velocity impact flung the Mercedes into a police kiosk on a pavement. Two Bangladeshi nationals, Kazi Mohammad Mainul Alam (36) and Farhana Islam Tania (28), who were standing under the kiosk since it was raining, were killed. Kazi Mohammad Shafi Rahamatullah (36), a relative of Alam, was injured. The three had come to Kolkata for medical treatment.

Arsalan Parvez was arrested 10 hours after the crash.