Actor-turned-BJP MP Roopa Ganguly's son Akash Mukhopadhyay, was granted bail by Alipore court on Saturday, 17 August in a road accident case that took place on 15 August, Hindustan Times reported. Mukhopadhyay had allegedly rammed his car into the wall of prestigious South Kolkata club on Thursday.
He was sent to one-day police custody on Friday, 16 August.
Mukhopadhyay was granted bail by the court, a surety bond of Rs 1,000. The prosecution’s plea to extend his police custody was denied, the report said.
The court has also reportedly directed that he cannot leave the Jadavpur police station area and has to meet the investigators twice a week. Police said that no casualty was reported, adding that Mukhopadhyay’s blood reports revealed he was not driving under the influence of liquor, the report added.
Narrow Escape for Many
The incident happened late on Thursday night when Akash, while taking a turn, rammed his black sedan into the wall of the club in the posh Golf Garden area, the sources said.
Mukherjee was arrested on Friday on charges of driving dangerously. It was a close escape for many, police sources told The Quint.
Locals claimed many people had a narrow escape as the vehicle was being driven at a breakneck speed. The car crashed into the boundary wall, breaking a portion of it, with the driver trapped inside.
There was no report of any injury as several people present at the spot scampered to safety on time, the sources said quoting eyewitnesses. The car will be sent for a forensic test, an officer told PTI.
Mukherjee came out of the car unscathed with the help of his father, who rushed out of their apartment nearby on hearing the commotion, the sources said.
He was then taken to the Jadavpur police station by cops, as the locals alleged that he was driving in an inebriated condition.
“Investigation is going on and the man is being questioned,” a source at the police station said.
‘Law Should Take It’s Own Course’
In a tweet, Ganguly said the law should take its own course.
Tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the tweet, the Rajya Sabha member said in Hindi, "I don't commit any wrong, neither do I tolerate one. I am not corrupt."
While Ganguly tweeted saying “no politics or favours, please”, Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh accused TMC of trying to politicise the accident and warned that if police tried to implicate him in false cases, BJP too would get involved in the matter.
"There has been an accident. Roopa di herself had called the police. The law will take its own course, we have nothing to say about it. We just want to say that the matter should not be politicised. We have not sought any special privileges," Ghosh said, reported PTI.
“The Trinamool Congress is unnecessarily trying to politicise the matter. We hope police would investigate impartially. But if the police administration tries to implicate him in false case by saying he was drunk, the we (BJP) too would get involved in the matter.”Dilip Ghosh, President, West Bengal BJP
His comments came in the backdrop of local TMC councillor Archana Dasgupta’s allegation that Akash Mukherjee was drunk and that he could have crushed kids playing on the streets under the wheels.
"There are kids who stay here on the streets. They play here. It could have caused a major accident. He was drunk when he was rescued. He has history of reckless driving, " Dasgupta had said, according to PTI.
(With inputs from PTI and Hindustan Times.)
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