WLTP 080521 Karting player in legal aid dispute about car used in race
An Indian amateur motor racing driver who received a six-year sentence for attacking an official on the race track is being investigated by police over the allegation that he attacked a car racing driver, his lawyer said.
The Kolkata high court heard on Thursday that the player, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was going through a legal dispute over his car, which he allegedly parked illegally and damaged in a race.
A court heard a motor racing manager who was driving his car on the track, Bikram Singh Dhillon, said he stopped next to the car after being approached by the driver on 19 January this year.
The complaint says the driver picked up a stick and hit the manager over the head in a rage. The court heard that he was angry because he had not obtained permission from the owner of the race track for his car to be parked there.
The court ordered the driver to pay compensation to Dhillon to the tune of 200,000 rupees (£2,500) and two months’ salary. But on his way to prison he rammed his car into two more vehicles, forcing the two drivers to escape.
The player was arrested on a separate charge of damaging property. Police then began investigating Dhillon’s complaint that the driver had attacked him and the driver turned him in to them.
The driver’s lawyer said the case had been filed as an attempt to extract an admission from the driver, and argued his client would be protected under the right to legal aid.
“The driver was left with no option but to claim compensation,” said his lawyer Amrit Gupta. “Otherwise his car was ruined and it was his own money that was thrown away.”