Janhavi Gadkar

Audi Q3

IN CUSTODY TILL JUNE 12

The accused, Janhavi , began crying when she woke up at police stationTop-notch corporate lawyer, who rammed herinto a taxi on the Eastern Freeway on Tuesday morning killing two persons, was so drunk that she fell asleep at the police station after she was arrested and the cops could record her statement only six hours after the incident. Janhavi, a senior vice-president (legal) at Reliance Industries, rode almost the entire length of the freeway on the wrong side and narrowly missed colliding with at least two cars before crashing into the taxi which was carrying a family of five returning from a party.Janhavi, who had to be extricated from her badly mangled car, was returning to her residence in Chembur from a dinner with a colleague at Hotel Marine Plaza on Marine Drive. Sources at the hotel, who did not wish to be identified, said she had six pegs of whiskey and the two ran up a bill of Rs 6,000. A student of St.Colubmia Girls High School in Gamdevi, Janhavi, 32, graduated from University of Warwick in England 2004 in international economic law. She worked with law firms like Wadia Ghandy & Co, and was a managing associate at Talwar Thakore and Associates before joining Reliance. At Talwar Thakore, Janhavi assisted Suresh Talwar and Feroz Dubash on the HSBC's takeover of RBS in 2010.Janhavi, who has been booked under Section 304 (II) of the IPC for culpable homicide and faces a maximum 10 years in jail, could not recall anything about the accident. She has also been charged under section 279 of IPC for rash and negligent driving.Her last memory, a police officer said, was of getting on to the freeway.While she was brought to the police station at around 2 am, she fell asleep and woke up only around 7.30 am. "She began crying when she realised she was at a police station. She also complained of severe headache. Her statement was eventually recorded at around 9 am,“ the officer said. Police also confirmed that preliminary investigations have revealed that Janhavi was drunk.A Kurla court on Wednesday sent Janhavi Gadkar to further police custody till June 12. She is accused of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304-II IPC which attracts a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison, the same charge which actor Salman Khan was recently held guilty for.Public prosecutor Prahlad Mahajan sought additional police remand, saying that the day's remand following her arrest was insufficient since most of it went in her medical treatment. The police needs to find out whether she met anyone else on the way and bought more liquor. The police also said it wants her custody to find out about the earlier two cars that she hit on the way. The statements of those witnesses are being recorded. Gadkar, who came in a cotton salwar kameez with her head covered with a blue and pink dupatta, was crying and wiping away her tears with a white kerchief. She stood before the magistrate Richa Khedekar barefoot, her hand bandaged and in a cast.