On 16th December, Ashwajit Gaikwad’s family issued an official statement refuting allegations of his alleged girlfriend. Gaikwad has been accused of mowing down 26-year-old Priya Singh in Thane, Maharashtra with his SUV. As per the statement, when the incident happened, Singh was allegedly intoxicated, and Ashwajit was at a family get-together with his wife, kids, and friends.
The family stated that the incident occurred between 1:30 AM and 2 AM. On the other hand, Singh claimed the incident occurred around 4 AM. The statement reads that Singh was continuously messaging Ashwajit, wanting to meet him. She reached the Courtyard Hotel, where the family was having a party, and barged into it. “Yes, she did barge where Ashwajit was with his friends and family,” the family added.
The family further added that Priya Singh was intoxicated. She allegedly hit and abused Ashwajit and his friends as he was not “responding to her calls and texts at midnight”. The statement read, “Might be there was a past between the two, but Ashwajit maintains he and she were just friends. Now Ashwajit also claims that he has paid her money on several occasions; even if he was in a relationship with her then, they must have broken up recently.”
Explaining what happened at night, the statement read, “When she (Priya Singh) started hitting him and his friends, Ashwajit and his family fled from the spot in his car with his family, totally embarrassed! She then clung to his driver’s car, and the driver, too, wanted to leave as his boss had already left. But then, as soon as the driver sped, she fell off, and in the process, she hurt herself badly as it was a moving car which she clung on to.”
When the driver noticed that Singh fell, he immediately rushed her to the nearest hospital and completed all the formalities. The statement added, “When they thought they had informed the patient’s sister and handed her all her valuables, next comes that this madam, with all her injuries, has changed the hospital. God knows who got in touch with whom, and a local rival reached the spot and thought it was the best chance to get back to Gaikwad in all family rivalry.”
Furthermore, the family alleged that Ashwajit was nowhere in the frame when Singh fell from the car and injured herself, as shown by the CCTV footage accessed by the police. The family further pointed out that the incident described by Singh in her Instagram post and FIR were contradictory. They said, “In one, she blames Ashwajit, and in the other, it is said the driver dashed her.”
The statement noted, “Yes, whatever happened in the past is between the boy and the girl. If things don’t go right, or if the relationship goes kaput, why is the boy always to be blamed? Just because he is a son and nephew of a famous person, so what? Just because he is monetarily strong, does the girl have the right to do anything? …She claims Ashwajit bit her. Has that been mentioned in any report from the hospital?” They further questioned if Singh was tested for alcohol.
On the other hand, speaking to PTI, Singh claimed that she did not know that Ashwajit was married. She said, “When I came to know (that he was married), he told me that they (his wife and him) were not together anymore; they had separated. He said that he wanted to marry me. I was staying with him for a long time.” She added, “When I went to meet him that night, he was with his wife. I was in shock when I went to talk to him; he got aggressive. We fought.”
Influencer Priya Singh accused Bureaucrat’s son of mowing her down
On 15th December, social media influencer Priya Singh published a post on her Instagram account accusing Ashwajit Gaikwad, son of Anil Gaikwad, the Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, of allegedly mowing her down outside a hotel in Thane. In her post, she alleged that on 11th December, Ashwajit called her to meet at a hotel where he was at a function along with his friends. She alleged he behaved strangely, and when she tried to talk to him privately, he and his friends began hurling verbal abuses at the victim. When Priya asked her boyfriend to defend her, he allegedly slapped and tried to strangulate her.
As the situation started getting worse, she headed to retrieve her bag and phone from the SUV, but the perpetrators allegedly attempted to cause her serious harm by first driving the SUV into her back near a divider, then returning and driving it over her right leg before speeding away. She was admitted to the hospital by his driver, Sagar, who allegedly threatened her not to complain about it. The accused were booked under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 279 (rash driving on a public way) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by Kasarvadavali police.
