The Margao Sessions Court has granted bail to Vidyadhar alias Vipul Prabhu, 32, who was arrested after a fatal crash at Shindolim, Sancoale, in which a motorcycle was allegedly dragged for nearly 2.5 km under a luxury car.

Bail was granted on furnishing a personal bond of ₹50,000 and one surety of the like amount. The incident took place on the afternoon of September 4, 2026, when Prabhu, a resident of Fatorda, was driving his Mercedes from Upasnagar towards Cortalim via Shindolim.

According to Verna police, Prabhu was driving under the influence of alcohol when he veered to the extreme right side of the road on the Shindolim slope and collided head-on with an oncoming motorcycle. The crash critically injured the rider, Ashok Kumar Chauhan, 42, and the pillion rider, Sonu Kumar, 24, both from Palamu, Jharkhand.

Police said Prabhu fled the scene with the two-wheeler wedged beneath his car, dragging it for roughly 2.5 km. The intense friction sparked a fire that engulfed both vehicles. Local residents pulled Prabhu out of the burning car. Chauhan was declared brought dead at the South Goa District Hospital in Margao. Verna police booked Prabhu for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

During the bail hearing, the public prosecutor opposed bail, citing the gravity of the act and the possibility of life imprisonment. Defence counsel Adv. Amarnath Dessai argued that the deceased was a complete stranger to the applicant, ruling out any premeditated intention.

The defence submitted that the case, at most, fell under the “knowledge without intention” limb of the offence, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years rather than life imprisonment. Accepting this distinction between intent and knowledge, the court observed that the prosecution’s case contained no material to suggest that Prabhu had an intention to commit murder.

It held that dragging the motorcycle showed prima facie “knowledge” that the act was likely to cause death, bringing the matter within the second part of Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), where the penalty does not exceed 10 years. The court ultimately granted bail to the accused, Vipul Prabhu, on a personal bond of ₹50,000 with one surety of the like amount. Prabhu was further directed to deposit ₹1 lakh with the court (refundable upon filing of the chargesheet), surrender his mobile phone for police monitoring for at least a month, cooperate with investigators, and not leave Goa without prior permission.