Mumbai’s drunk woman driver was also on drugs, show tests

MUMBAI - Nooriya Haveliwala, accused of drunk-driving and knocking a policeman and a man dead Jan 30, has tested positive for drugs and faces fresh charges under anti-narcotics laws, police said here Wednesday.

The medical reports of the 27-year-old woman’s blood and urine samples tested positive for morphine and cannabis, Additional Police Commissioner (South) R.K. Padmanabhan told mediapersons.

He said the reports state that she tested positive but do not indicate the quantity of the drugs consumed.

Mumbai Police now plans to seek her custody at the next hearing Feb 16 and also slap her with Sec. 27 of the Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (Prevention) Act, Padmanabhan added.

The section pertains to consumption of drugs and could attract a punishment of one-year imprisonment on that count.

Nooriya has already been charged with the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts a maximum of life imprisonment and the new developments will further strengthen the police case against her.

Incidentally, her breathalyzer test conducted by the police, which showed that she had consumed 457 mg of alcohol - nine times the permissible limits for driving - had been proved erroneous in a forensic test, which put her alcohol consumption content at only 144 mg.

The lower alcohol content in her body could have helped her secure bail, but the new report showing consumption of drugs would make it an uphill task.

Nooriya’s medico father, Yusuf Haveliwala, had challenged the police claim and said that any person with that much quantity of alcohol would not be able to walk properly.

However, Nooriya was walking straight despite wearing high heels and he said that the breathalyzer readings could be wrong.

On the night of Jan 29, Nooriya had partied with friends at a flat in Malabar Hill area, then at a pub in Mumbai Central and then went to a wine shop to pick up more beer cans.

While driving her SUV Toyota CRV, she was sipping beer when it bumped into a taxi, a motorcycle and a police jeep at Marine Lines.

The motorcycle rider, Afzal M. (35) died on the spot, while sub-inspector Dinanath Shinde (40) died later at a hospital. Four other policemen suffered injuries in the accident.