Raps on vs Indian trader for hit-and-run

Multiple criminal charges have been filed against an Indian businessman accused of killing a motorcyclist and injuring his companion in a traffic accident in Forbes Park, Makati on Saturday.

Rajiv Ramesh Dargani, of Dasmariñas Village, Makati City, is now facing complaints of reckless imprudence resulting to homicide and physical injuries, as well as abandonment, for the death of Henrix Bernardo and injury of Glenn Nacion Jr., both residents of Barangay Guadalupe Nuevo in the city.

Dargani has been identified as the president of Sunglass Hut Philippines, the local arm of the international retailer of luxury sunglass brands such as Oakley and RayBan.

A city police traffic report showed that an Audi sports car driven by Dargani collided with the motorcycle being driven by Bernardo, with Nacion as a back rider, along McKinley Road at Forbes Park at 3:05 a.m. on April 20.

Dargani was traveling along the lane opposite Bernardo and Nacion, who were coming from Edsa going toward Bonifacio Global City, when Dargani swerved to the left as he tried to overtake a car.

Instead, Dargani’s car collided head-on with the motorcycle, knocking over the motorcycle and its riders.

“Due to the impact, [the motorcycle and its riders] lost balance, fell to the… pavement, and was dragged backward several meters away,” said the traffic report prepared by Police Officer 2 Marte Caesar Bueno of the Makati Station Traffic Enforcement Unit.

Both victims were brought to the Ospital ng Makati but Bernardo was declared dead at 3:50 a.m.

Bueno noted that Dargani fled after the incident and headed toward the Palm Avenue gate of Dasmarinas Village.”

The criminal complaints were filed by the Makati police at the city fiscal office on Wednesday morning, despite Bernardo’s family and Nacion himself filing affidavits on Monday expressing that they will desist from filing charges for the incident, Makati chief of police Senior Supt. Manuel Lukban said.

Lukban said Dargani was considered at-large, since investigators did not find him at his residence. The police chief, however, told reporters Dargani’s camp had earlier sent feelers for his surrender, but Dargani had failed to appear before police due to “trauma.”