Crawford Market accident toll climbs to 5, history-sheeter held

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The toll in a late night accident in a Mumbai eatery rammed by a speeding car climbed to five, officials said here on Tuesday.

Kamlesh N. Singh, 21, who was admitted to the Sir J. J. Hospital, succumbed here on Tuesday morning, said an official of Pydhonie Police Station.

Earlier in the day, the police arrested the vehicle driver Syed Sameer Ali, 46, alias Diggy - who is a known history-sheeter. Ali is suspected to have been in an inebriated condition at the time of the accident. He sustained minor injuries and is admitted in a hospital.

Late on Monday night, four people -- Saroja Naidu, 65, Zubeda A. Khan, Saira Banu, 60 and Mohammed Naeem, 55, died, while four others were injured.

Ali allegedly lost control of his car near Crawford Market -- barely a stone's throw away from the Mumbai Police Commissioner's office -- and rammed into the Cafe Janata while several staffers and customers were inside.

The injured include Nadeem Ansari, 40, Mustakeen Shah and Mohammed H. Jailnul, 41, who work in the eatery.

According to police, in 1997, the accused was arrested in a fake currency racket case and sentenced to five years in jail in 2007, but later secured bail. Along with him, his mother Kartaj Banu, brother Syed Mehraj Ali and brother-in-law Sajid Shaikh were the co-accused in the case.

In 1997, Diggy and Shaikh had another fake currency case lodged against them in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, with a case pending in a Special Court in Jaipur.

Besides, Diggy was externed from Mumbai District at least on two occasions, and has multiple complaints pending against him at the J. J. Marg and M. R. A. Marg Police Stations. There is also a case against him under the Arms Act, filed by the Crime Branch in Mumbai.

Police said that in June, he was booked by J. J. Marg Police in another accident when his car had banged into a truck but there were no casualties in that incident.

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