@
harishankar
Your write up made thinngs clear. Though I wanted to summarize the salient points here I decided against it to get more footfalls on your blog. I also thank
krishna6239 for posting and bringing the thread under "Today's Post", without which I would have missed this. Was reading it and a friend joined. He told me of his experience of getting involved in an accident.
His experiences on that day (and later) are exactly in tune with THIS thread. I am writing this below stuff as told by my friend. Words are mine, BTW.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My friend and his family were going to Mysore in his Swift, via "Bangalore - Kanakapura - Mysore" route. After crossing Bangalore limits, and while on a straight stretch doing 60 kph, he realized that a biker on the opposite lane started aiming for wrong side of the road and would end up smack in front of the car. My friend veered to right but the car still hit the rear wheel of the bike (semi T-boned). Friend stopped the car, ran back to the biker. The driver was a 65 year old man with his 14-16 year old grandson on pillion. Both were sitting and a crowd of 10-15 people had already gathered. The old man was bleeding from a cut on his forehead (known later) and the boy had bleeding on his left leg (direct hit). My friend gave water and washed their faces. The crowd started accusing him of rash driving. My friend meanwhile had called the 108 Emergency Number, but was asked to go to the nearest Govt Hospital at Harohalli (within 6-8 km).
As he took them in his car to the hospital, he was followed by some bikers. The old man's daughter was also in the Hospital. My friend admitted both bikers in the hospital, giving correct details. Treatment started and it was found that except few cuts here and there, both the 65 and 15 year olds were fine. But, every 5 minutes, a small group of people would come, would quiz around, would look at the bikers, would try talking to my friend, talked angrily among themselves and would go out.
My friend said,
he remained calm and never gave a wrong reply. As soon as the Dr declared both bikers "as ready for discharge" the locals started shouting at the Doc (
Yeeeyyyy Doctor). Doc didn't bother and went for rounds. Friend then
ensured that the Bills were in the names of the Bikers, cleared the Bills and kept the Bills with him. Then friend was called outside Hospital for settlement. Friend didn't agree but wanted to file a Police case, as the Swift was damaged due to biker's mistake. They demanded and he didn't agree. At times, a local would make a call to a someone and triumphantly declare, that "Police is coming now".
Friend kept insisting on FIR. The locals told him, "you have to leave it at the Police Stn and nothing will be left in your car". This frightened my friend and he was leaning towards a settlement.
After about 30 minutes, my friend asked them how much they expected.
They demanded Rs 1,50,000/- and my friend offered Rs 5,000/-. as both patients were discharged (with medicine for a week) and both were comfortably standing on the Hospital portico. This led to more heat. The daughter shouted at the old man to go and lie down inside and the Hospital nurses shouting back at the daughter.
As locals were debating with him on the settlement money, my friend prepared a "settlement-statement" and asked parties concerned and witnesses to sign with their mobile numbers and bike numbers. He was clear, everyone who held him and his family hostage for nearly 2 hours should sign on the paper and then only he would agree for higher amount. Or else it would be FIR. This reduced the crowd to only 3.
Friend demanded the old man's driving license, but they were stalling him without showing it. My friend had a clear picture by now. The thin crowd now agreed for Rs 20,000/-
All these happened during the
DeMo where-is-cash time and friend had only Rs 7,000 with him and the
nearby ATMs were bone dry. They accepted Rs 5,000 as advance settlement (he needed Rs 2K to return to Bangalore, he reasoned with them) and the rest was to be paid later. The document was signed by the old man, his daughter, son-in-law, G_Son, and the three witnesses. He showed me a photo of the so called document. He had written in English, "
illegal confinement of family and harassment" and all these people signed below it
![[lol]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Laugh.gif "Laugh [lol]")
With the help of a local mechanic, he patched up the front of Swift and drove it back to Bangalore. They called him next day and he demanded the old man's driving license. This continued for two weeks and finally
they admitted that the oldie did not have a valid DL. My friend demanded Rs 65,000 from them for repair cost plus the 5K he gave them earlier. After few more calls, he "blacklisted" their numbers. A few days later someone claiming to be a Cop called and shouted at my friend. When he was not given a land-line number, my friend asked the Cop's ID so that it would be useful the next day when he went to "BLR Commissioner’s Office". The call got cut and friend received NO MORE CALLS on this regard.
The insurance Co eventually covered the Swift's repair charges.
Some Doubts from my side:
- This is interesting : when friend was giving water to the old man, the old man's phone rang; his daughter called, (as per my friend) within three minutes of the accident. Coincidence !!!
- Was the entire episode a set-up, to grab money ? Did the 65 year old man dive in, thinking that the car was coming at so slow that it would only glance the bike ?? Obviously he underestimated the car's speed and got T-boned :-(
- Any TAIger having similar experience in Bangalore - Kanakapura - Mysore Route ???
Footnotes:
- The Govt Hosp Dr advised my friend to stay calm and not to use bad words.
- When he realised he had hit a bike, friend said, "The feeling was too horrific. Later, I was very glad to see the oldie standing on his feet and using his mobile".
- He didn't know that the Police Stn was nearby. Had he known, he said, "I would have called #100. It was too much pressure - one man Vs 10-15 men". I asked him, "what if the Police asked you to leave the car there for a week or so" ? My friend didn't have an answer, when he left.
@ Mods --- Please move this post to relevant thread, if it not suitable here. Thanks.
