Mumbai jogger's death: Motorist claims didn't consume alcohol

The motorist who allegedly ran over and killed a 57yearold jogger at Worli in south Mumbai has claimed that he had partied with friends hours before the accident but had not consumed alcoholThe accused Sumer Merchant made the claim in the statement given to the police which is part of the chargesheet filed recently before a court hereThe chargesheet citing his blood sample report stated that the alcohol content in Merchants blood was 137 mg in 100 ml which is way above the permissible limitRajalakshmi Ramakrishnan a tech firm CEO was hit by a speeding car during her morning walk on the Worli seaface promenade in Mumbai on March 19Merchant 23 in his statement said that he had gone to America for work for 15 days and returned to India on March 15After returning home Merchant met his school and office friends and decided to have a party on March 18 and they had gone to a restaurant in Kamala Mills areaThe accused claimed that during the party some of his friends consumed alcohol but he didntSome of my friends there consumed alcohol but I didnt feel like drinking alcohol because I wasnt getting enough sleep So I didnt drink alcohol his statement readOnce the restaurant closed at 130 am on March 19 the accused came home with his friendsMerchant claimed that he was on his way to drop a friend when a woman suddenly came in front of his car while he was crossing Worli DairyI tried to control the car and swerve to the right but I could not because of the high speed of the car So the woman came in front of my car and the car hit the road divider on the right side the statement saidWhen the accused got down from the car and went to the woman he found her lying on her back and not breathing he said adding that the police had come to the place in no time and took the injured woman and him to Nair HospitalWitnesses Sylvester Pereira and Kunal Rumde in their statement said that they had parked their car on the opposite side of the roadThe duo alleged that Merchant was driving his car at high speed and he looked inebriatedWhen Merchant saw that the woman was hit severally he asked his friend to leave they said adding that they managed to stop the duo and called the police and ambulanceMerchant has moved another bail plea before the court post filing of the chargesheet in the case His plea will be heard on May 31Earlier both the magistrate and sessions courts had denied him bailThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever