Man Wanted for South Brunswick Tire Slashing and Fatal DUI Hit With New Charges

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - A man wanted in South Brunswick for allegedly slashing car tires last Mother's Day is now facing a slew of new charges from the South Brunswick PD, among them witness tampering and filing two false police reports.

This comes while Ajinkya Kelkar, 21, is currently under house arrest in Florida, awaiting trial for a vehicular homicide in West Palm Beach last summer. It's the same Kelkar who is charged with slashing the tires of five different cars, scrawling obscenities over one of them, last Mother's Day. Kelkar, known as "AJ," wanted to get revenge on a man dating his ex-girlfriend, but went to the wrong house on Friendship Road and slashed the tires there, South Brunswick police told Patch at the time.

“The incident ruined our Mother’s Day as we had to get all new tires, and Mom couldn’t sleep the rest of the night seeing the video of the man walking around the property with the knife," the Friendship Road victims told police last May.

Kelkar was charged with causing over $10,000 in damage in the tire slashing. He has an upcoming March 3 court appearance on those charges, but South Brunswick police say he filed a false complaint earlier this month in an attempt to impede those court proceedings:

On Sunday, Feb. 12, an anonymous caller contacted South Brunswick police headquarters to allege police misconduct. The caller told police that officers had been sent to a call on Saturday evening, Feb. 11, about a party off Davidson Mill Road. The caller said one of the responding officers had covered up the party and failed to take action. An investigation by the head of the South Brunswick Police Department Professional Standards Bureau, Lt. James Kinard, found that there was no incident on Saturday night. However, that night an anonymous caller had contacted police to report a party off Davidson Mill Road, but when officers arrived there were no signs of any event.

The investigation traced the calls back to Kelkar, currently in Florida. Kelkar believed the allegations would impact officers involved with his Mother's Day arrest from testifying in his upcoming court proceedings, police said.

Kelkar is currently under house arrest in Boca Raton for a July 2016 crash in which police say he killed a 38-year-old West Palm Beach man. Kelkar was drunk driving at the time, police said; he admitted to drinking two Long Island ice teas before getting in his pick-up truck and causing a three-vehicle collision in West Palm Beach, according to Florida media reports. He left the scene of the crash, police said.

In Florida he is awaiting court proceedings on charges of DUI manslaughter, leaving the scene of a crash involving death, vehicular homicide, reckless driving causing serious bodily injuries to another and DUI causing injury to person or property.

“People who lie and make up false allegations against police officers will be charged when we can prove it," said Chief Raymond Hayducka. "In this case it is clear that Mr. Kelkar called in a false police report, which generated officers going to a false call. He then called in a false allegation of police misconduct, which created an investigation into actions that never took place. He did all this in an attempt to delay the justice system and his day in court.”

"We take all complaints seriously and investigate them to the fullest extent. In this case it resulted in criminal charges," he added.

Past Patch coverage of Ajinkya "AJ" Kelkar:

Man Slashes Woman's Tires at Wrong House, Ruins Her Mother's Day: Police

Photo of Kelkar supplied by the South Brunswick police