Bandra-Worli Sea Link accident: I was plugging phone charger at time of crash, confesses SUV driver

A Mumbai local court has sent the driver of the sports utility vehicle (SUV), who rammed into couple of stationary vehicles including an ambulance at the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai killing five persons, to one-day police custody. He told the cops that he was trying to connect the mobile phone charger when the accident happened.

The police informed the court that the SUV driver, Irfan Abdul Rahim Bilakiya, had in his statement claimed that his mobile handset was discharged and the accident was caused after he lost control over his Hyundai Creta while attempting to put the phone on charge. He, however, also claimed that it was negligent on the part of authorities to not put barricades or signage or traffic safety cones to indicate the presence of stationary vehicles on the bridge.

The 40-year-old Bilakiya was arrested from his residence at Mohammed Ali Road in South Mumbai on Wednesday, hours after the accident. He has been booked under IPC sections 304A (death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), among others after an FIR (first information report) was registered against him at the Worli Police Police Station.


As per police report, Bilakiya, a businessman, was returning home from suburban Jogeshwari when he allegedly rammed his SUV into three stationary cars and an ambulance on the bridge at around 3 am on Wednesday.

Five persons were killed and eight others injured in the accident. After the accident, the SUV driver went to Saifee Hospital, where he received treatment for hand injury and afterwards proceeded to his residence from where he was arrested later in the day, said the police official.

The police took the help of CCV footage of the Sea Link and obtained details of his vehicle before nabbing Bilakiya, he said.

The police were ascertaining if the SUV driver was under the influence of alcohol and have sent his blood samples for forensic examination, the official said. They were also examining whether the SUV was speeding on the 5.6km-long cable-stayed bridge, which connects Bandra in the western suburbs to Worli in south Mumbai, he said.

(Inputs from agencies)