Ahmedabad:  Tathya Patel, who is accused of killing nine people by driving his speeding luxury car into a crowd at an accident site on July 20, was arrested on Monday for another case of reckless driving.

Patel was taken into custody by the traffic police from Sabarmati Central Jail, where he is currently held, based on an FIR lodged last week. The FIR alleges that he crashed his four-wheeler into the compound wall of a restaurant on Sindhu Bhavan road on July 3.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Neeta Desai stated, “Patel was arrested on a transfer warrant from Sabarmati Central Jail in connection with the FIR in which he was accused of ramming a four-wheeler into a restaurant. He was granted bail in the same case and sent back to judicial custody.”

Initially, Patel was not named in the July 3 incident FIR. However, it was discovered that the vehicle involved in the July 20 incident on Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway and the one that crashed into the restaurant had the same registration number, according to the police.

The restaurant owner, Mihir Shah, had not filed a case earlier as the damage was minimal (Rs 20,000). But after the ISKCON flyover incident on July 20, where the same car with the same registration number was involved, Shah approached the police.

Patel was charged under IPC sections, including 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), and the Motor Vehicles Act for the tragic accident on July 20, where nine people, including a constable, lost their lives after his speeding Jaguar car hit the crowd gathered at the accident site on the ISKCON bridge.

On July 27, the police filed a 1,700-page chargesheet, which included a report from the luxury car manufacturer Jaguar, indicating that the car was overspeeding at the time of the incident.

Additionally, Patel faced another FIR after an investigation revealed that he had previously crashed the same car into a temple complex in Gandhinagar about six months ago. The Santej police in Gandhinagar sought a transfer warrant for his arrest in that case.