'I was the victim here'

Fatema Agarkar, wife of cricketer Ajit Agarkar, was involved in an accident on Monday night on College Road (near Kirti College) when a speeding vehicle, in an attempt to overtake, hit the side of her white Santro and drove away. Fatema was admitted by the Agarkars to Lilavati Hospital with a concussion and severe vomiting. She is now out of danger.But the identity of the driver is not known.
When BT visited Fatema in her hospital room on Tuesday morning, she had just finished giving her police statements. "It was my wedding anniversary, and I was going to my in-law’s place for dinner," she said. "College Road is a tiny lane where drivers often ignore the two-way traffic and overtake. When a gray Opel or Lancer, with its headlights off, tried to get past me, I was worried about my side view mirror. So I stopped to let him go. The next thing I know is that he had hit me, causing my head to bang against the side as I was wearing my seatbelt, and I passed out for two minutes."
Fatema recalls being alert enough to know she should move the car off the road. "I managed to get it into a parking below my in-laws’ building, then passed out again," she says. It was a neighbouring photographer, who realised she wasn’t getting out of the car, who alerted the Agarkars.
Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, who is treating Fatema, said: "It was a whiplash injury and there was a concussion on the brain, which caused the vomiting. But the CT scan reports are normal and she is now out of danger. She should be discharged in a couple of days."
Husband Ajit, who refused to leave the bedside of his wife – "I’m still on Australia time, and it’ll be night only at 6 pm" — is thankful he is back from Australia just in time. "I’m glad we came via Hyderabad, which is why I got here at 9.30 this morning," he said. "If we had transited through Kuala Lumpur, it would have taken at least 12 hours more." Even in her state of recovery, Fatema is upset about the hit-and-run allegations that are being reported. "If I’d hit someone, I’d have known," she says. "I was the victim here."
Shivaji Park police station personnel say that an accident case has been registered and the person who banged into Fatema is still untraceable.