Vadodara Crash Accused Was Not Drunk, Had Smoked Marijuana: Cops

Rakshit Chaurasia, the accused in the Vadodara crash that left a woman dead and seven others injured last month, was driving under the influence of drugs, police said on Friday.

According to the police, the primary report of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Gandhinagar - that tested the accused's blood sample - revealed he was not drunk at the time of the incident but had smoked marijuana. Along with Chaurasia, the blood samples of his co-passenger Praanshu Chauhan and another friend who was in the car during the crash, Suresh Bharwad, have also tested positive for drugs.

The medical report came about 20 days after the accident that sent shockwaves across the country.

Police have booked all three accused under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and invoked Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, against Chaurasia, which makes it a criminal offence to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

While Chauhan has been arrested, Chaurasia is currently lodged at the Vadodara Central Jail. The third accused is on the run.

"We received the result of the three blood samples today, which showed positive for drugs. They were driving the car after smoking marijuana. We have arrested Rakshit Chaurasia's co-passenger and the third accused will be arrested soon," Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 4, Panna Momaya said.

On March 13, Chaurasia, a 23-year-old law student from Prayagraj, crashed the Volkswagen Virtus sedan he was driving into three vehicles, resulting in the death of one woman, Hemali Patel. The incident, captured on camera, took place near Amrapali Chaar Rasta in Karelibag, a busy intersection in Vadodara.

A video of the accused's disturbing reaction had gone viral in which the accused, dressed in a black T-shirt, repeatedly shouted: "Another round, another round!" and "Om Namah Shivay!" (a religious chant).

He was arrested a day later and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The accused, who was studying at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, earlier denied being drunk or speeding and attributed the crash to the car's airbags.

"We were overtaking a scooter and turned right when we hit a pothole. The car touched another vehicle, and the airbag deployed, impairing my vision and causing the car to go out of control...I was told that a woman died and others were injured. I want to meet the victims' families -- it is my fault," he said.

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