Bureaucrat’s son who tried to mow down girlfriend claims she texted him to meet

The Bombay High Court on Friday granted time to social media influencer Priya Singh, who was run over allegedly by an SUV of her boyfriend Ashwajit Gaikwad, the son of a Maharashtra bureaucrat, to ponder over an affidavit filed by him and revert by October 8. Ashwajit Gaikwad claimed that Priya Singh messaged him for a meeting with him, but at the same time, she was seeking aggravation of charges against him.
During the hearing on Friday, advocates Niranjan Mundargi and Keral Mehta handed over an affidavit by Ashwajit Gaikwad, son of bureaucrat Anilkumar Gaikwad. They submitted before a bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Dr Neela Gokhale that Priya Singh had come to court seeking aggravation of charges against the accused, but on the other hand, she had been messaging him after midnight and asking him to meet him.
Ashwajit Gaikwad had approached the court and sought the cancellation of an FIR against him under sections 279 (rash driving), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 338 (causing grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Priya Singh had also approached the court to add sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 376 (rape) and to transfer the investigation to any other agency.
Ashwajit Gaikwad said he had complained to the police about Priya Singh’s late-night messages. Screenshots of the messages were attached to the affidavit. Advocate Mundargi alleged that the messages could be for extortion of money. The messages were sent on June 17 around 1:24 am.
The bench then asked Priya Singh’s lawyer if the contact number and messages were of Priya Singh’s. The lawyer for Priya Singh said the contact number was not hers, but she refused to put anything on the affidavit.
Justice Gadkari said, “We are giving you an opportunity. What will be the legal repercussions of this?” Justice Gokhale added, “She (Priya Singh) is the victim here. Let her think about it. It should not implicate her.”
Earlier, the Joint Commissioner of Police (crime), Thane, had informed the court that Priya Singh fell while retrieving her bag from an SUV. Priya Singh had alleged that Ashwajit Gaikwad had instructed a friend to run the vehicle over her on December 11 last year after an argument between the duo on Ghodbundar road in Thane district.