MUMBAI: An Audi driven at speed on the wrong side by a drunk woman hit a taxi headlong on the Eastern Freeway in the early hours of Tuesday. So severe was the impact that the fire brigade had to be called to cut through mangled steel to pull out the taxi’s driver. He and his front seat passenger didn’t survive. His three back seat passengers are in hospital with fractures and other injuries.The woman, Janhavi Ajit Gadkar (35), works in the legal cell of a top corporation at Nariman Point. The deceased are taxi driver Hussain Sayyed (57) and soap trader Haji Salim Sabuwala (50). The injured are Sabuwala’s wife Hafeeza (45), daughter Sabiya (22) and son Noman (18).An RTO officer who examined the accident site and the vehicles involved said that looking at the impact, it seemed that both vehicles were at high speed, with the Audi clocking at least 120kmph. He said Janhavi escaped injuries or death because of her car’s airbags.Around 7pm on Monday, Janhavi left her office with two colleagues for Hotel Marine Plaza, where she drank whisky. They parted three hours later, but Janhavi spent time in her Audi Q3 on Marine Drive till around 12.30am.Then she started driving towards her Chembur flat, which is in an upmarket building near RK Studios. She took P D’Mello Road and then the Freeway, driving on the wrong side. Half a kilometre before Panjarpol tunnel, near Shivaji Nagar Masjid, she grazed two cars before colliding with the taxi. The accident occurred between 1.10 and 1.20am.The Sabuwalas, who live in Null Bazar, Nagpada, were returning from an eatery in Bhiwandi, where they had gone to celebrate son Nauman's success in the SSC exams.An eyewitness of the accident, who gave his name as Hassan, said, “I was returning with my family when the incident occurred. I immediately got hold of the woman and called the RCF police. Passers-by removed the injured taxi passengers and took them to Sion hospital. We also called the fire brigade to free the driver. Janhavi tried to hush up the matter by offering payment to the victims on the spot and telling us not to call the police.”Dilip Raut of the RCF police said Janhavi was so drunk that she could barely stand. “We immediately sent her for medical tests. The reports are awaited.”Janhavi has been arrested under several sections of the IPC and the Motor Vehicle Act, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder and rash driving. If convicted, she may get a maximum of ten years of rigorous imprisonment. She has been remanded in police custody till Wednesday.Assistant commissioner of police Jeevaji Jadhav said, “The road was almost empty. Janhavi, driving under the influence of alcohol, did not realize her direction was wrong. She entered the Freeway on the wrong side at its mouth at Masjid Bunder.”Joint commissioner (law and order) Deven Bharti said the police have strong evidence and witnesses to prove the case against Janhavi.