NRI Nooriya Haveliwala, convicted in 2010 drunk driving case, dies at Mumbai hospital

Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) Nooriya Haveliwala, an NRI who was convicted in a 2010 drunk driving case in which two persons were killed, died at a hospital here earlier this week, police said on Sunday.

Haveliwala was convicted of drunk driving and mowing down a police officer and a motorcyclist in Marine Lines area of south Mumbai in January 2010. A trial court here had sentenced her to five years in jail.

After completing her sentence, Haveliwala (41) lived with her mother Alifya (88) in Colaba’s Alipur Trust Building. She had reportedly slipped into depression and was undergoing treatment, an official said.

Haveliwala died at Saifee Hospital in Charni Road on Tuesday, he said.

Haveliwala’s mother informed the Colaba police about her daughter’s death, after which a diary entry was made. The LT Marg police will now inform the Bombay High Court about her natural death on the next date of hearing of her appeal against her conviction in the case, he said.

“The Colaba police were informed that she died on July 4 due to a chronic liver disease with partial hypertension. We have also shared the information with the LT Marg police station, where the case was registered,” the official said.

The police had claimed that Haveliwala, a beautician and a hairstylist, had partied with friends in a flat in Malabar Hill and later at a pub in Mumbai Central, after which she went to a wine shop to pick up some beer.

She later crashed her car into the police check post, killing police sub-inspector Dinanath Shinde and motorcyclist Afzal Ibrahim.

The LT Marg police had registered a case against Haveliwala. Though the primary charge against her was of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, she was also booked under the NDPS act, as her subsequent examination had revealed that she was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the incident.

Haveliwala was arrested on January 30, 2010, and was released on bail around three months later, on April 4, 2010.

Haveliwala had studied up to Class 12 in the US, where she lived with her parents, before graduating from a college in Kodaikanal after her parents moved to India, the official said.