Gurugram bike crash accused Kalyan Bainsla charged with attempt to murder

An attempt to murder charge was invoked on Tuesday against the suspect who hit a woman biker on Gurugram’s Golf Course Road, leaving her injured during a road rage incident on Sunday, police said. The suspect has been detained after 24 hours of being booked in the case on Monday.“I did not hit them intentionally,” the accused said. (Handout via PTI)Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said it was based on the analysis of the CCTV camera footage of the accident spot that the attempt to murder charge, according to Section 109 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), was invoked in the case against the car driver Kalyan Bainsla.The accused has been detained in Rajasthan's Dausa.Turan said that the CCTV footage clearly showed the white car swerving and hitting the woman, after which she fell from her sportbike and skidded on the road for several feet.“The act prima facie seems intentional. Once proved in court, the charges attract punishment of up to ten years in prison,” he said.Police had taken suo motu cognisance after a video of the incident went viral on social media and registered a first information report (FIR) against the car under sections 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others and 281 (rash driving) of BNS at Sector-56 police station on Monday.The woman, in the presence of her father and lawyer, got her statement recorded before the police.Sia, alias Shivani Chaudhan, was on a pleasure ride on her Aprilia sportbike with a group of other bikers on Sunday morning when the car driver made gestures while chasing her and driving dangerously close to her, asking her to stop.The victim had later asked the suspect to drive while maintaining a distance and sped away to avoid any untoward situation. However, the car driver accelerated and suddenly changed lanes to ram the woman, after which she fell on the road and skidded for several feet with her motorcycle. The Delhi woman, identified as Sia, riding a motorcycle on Gurugram’s Golf Course Road, was injured after a man allegedly rammed his car into her following a road-rage incident.The incident came to light after the woman posted a video of the incident on social media. The footage went viral, prompting Gurugram police to take suo motu cognisance of the matter.According to police, the incident occurred early Sunday while Sia was riding her Aprilia sportbike with a group of riders. She alleged that the driver of a white Maruti Ciaz began chasing her and repeatedly signalled her to stop after driving dangerously close to her.“He had started chasing me on the Golf Course Road. I asked him to drive while maintaining distance. He kept making hand gestures, ordering me to stop my bike,” she said in the video.Accused's lawyer denies intentional rammingThe lawyer for the accused, Kalyan Bainsla, has pinned the blame for the accident on the woman biker.According to an NDTV report, the accused's lawyer has said that the video was a stunt to gain followers on social media."You see the video of the woman, see it on social media, the woman is driving at a speed of 140-170 kmph on the bike. This road is not for stunts, this road is not for speed," he said. "It is being publicised to stir controversy. It is a woman who wants followers, who wants views, who wants publicity," the lawyer was quoted as saying by NDTV.He added that the occupant had three other people in the car with him at the time of the incident, and they were returning from Delhi after meeting relatives."The mistake was not on our part, we saved the footpath, the girl came right, we went a little left, and that is how the crash happened," the lawyer said, adding that the reason the four people in the car fled was due to the fear of a possible "lynching."Collision 'accidental', says accusedThe accused driver, Kalyan Bainsla, has also claimed that he fled out of fear of a mob attack after the collision."I was travelling with my family. I didn't make any gestures at the young woman; I simply asked her to ride her bike slowly. I admit that a collision occurred. Had I stopped right then, those people would have beaten us up," Bainsla was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.He said that he told Sia and her friend to slow down, adding that he did not hit them intentionally."She was turning without checking her mirrors; just then, near a U-turn, I lost control of the car, and the collision occurred. It was my fault; I admit it," he said.However, the biker and her father tell a different story, continuing to claim that the collision was deliberate."This is also a matter of women's safety. We will soon lodge a complaint with the police, and strict action must be taken against such individuals," the father told ANI.