Model Rajkanya Baruah re-arrested in road accident case

Model and 2016 Miss India finalist, Rajkanya Baruah, who injured eight roadside workers last week in Guwahati while driving her car allegedly at high speed and in an inebriated condition, was rearrested on Wednesday, police said. The police said the 29-year-old model was arrested again from a hospital after the six-member board of the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) led by Purujit Choudhury submitted a report to the police that she has no health complications and is completely fine.

“She (Baruah) is fit to appear before the Investigating Officer… does not require any hospitalisation. In case of any medical emergency, she may visit GMCH Emergency Department or OPD,” the report said.

GMCH Superintendent Abhijit Sharma told the media that the medical board team has also had an extensive discussion with Baruah as well as the other doctors.

The model, who was granted bail in less than 12 hours after the accident on Friday night, did not appear before the Investigating Officer on Tuesday, despite being summoned, citing health complications.

Police had said that her family members had sought two weeks time for her to appear as she is undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Police have then sought a medical board report on Baruah and it was submitted on Wednesday.

A police official said that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also holds the Home Department, intervened in the matter to reinvestigate the accident case after the police drew criticism for registering a weak case against Baruah under bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Senior police officials are also probing the role of the policemen who earlier dealt with the case.

On Saturday night, eight PWD workers were injured, one of them seriously when Baruah’s speeding Chevrolet rammed into a van at the Rukmini Nagar area. The Dispur police seized the car and Baruah was picked up by police for further investigation but she was released on bail subsequently.

The model, who was allegedly drunk, reportedly drove her Chevrolet car at high speed while returning home after attending a party in a hotel in the Khanapara area.