IAF officer's death: Accused 'drunk' while driving, booked for murder

Kolkata: Sambia Sohrab, the prime accused in the hit-and-run case in which a young Air Force officer was killed while rehearsing for the Republic Day parade, was interrogated at length by the Kolkata Police last night.

Sambia was arrested Saturday night by the Kolkata Police while he was heading towards his in-laws' house. He has been booked under IPC Section 302 (Wrongful restraint) ,120(b) ( Criminal conspiracy) ,307 (Attempt to murder) , 212 (Harbouring offender)  and 427(Mischief causing damage).

According to a Kolkata Police official, Sambia was grilled at Joint Commissioner (Crime) Deabasish Boral's chamber at the Force's headquarter till 5 AM today.

As per the official, Sambia denied that he was behind the wheels of the brand new Audi which mowed down IAF Corporal Abhimanyu Gaud during the rehearsal of Republic Day parade here on January 13.

"He (Sambia) did not cooperate with us at all. Whenever he was asked about his role he denied being there at the mishap site. But we have clear indications of his presence at the Red Road area at that very hour," the official told PTI.

Read: Prime accused in Kolkata's Red Road hit-and-run case arrested

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Sambia's mobile phone tower showed that he was there on January 13 morning, he said.

In fact, it was through his mobile phone tower location that helped Kolkata Police sleuths to spot him last night, he said.

Sambia was also asked about the number of persons present with him during the incident, to which he had no "clear" answer, the official said.

"We have information that the earlier night Sambia along with his friends had a booze party at the Dadhi Ghat in the Port area. He was drunk and was at the driving wheels and is responsible for the mishap," he said.

Sambia was trying to escape to neighbouring states and was constantly changing his hiding places since the accident. Earlier, an employee of one of the hotels owned by Sohrab in Jorashanko area of the city was called by the police for questioning in connection with Wednesday's mishap. He was later on arrested.

Police had also detained another person for questioning after the incident but allowed him to go.

The 21-year-old Corporal was knocked down and killed after being hit by the Audi car during the Republic Day rehearsal parade on the Red Road.

The brand new white Audi broke three guard rails and barged into the parade rehearsal before fatally hitting the IAF officer.