Five dead, three injured in accident on expressway

Mumbai: Five persons died and three others were injured in an accident on the Mumbai-Pune expressway at about 4am on Monday, when a speeding tempo hit an Omni van from behind.

The Omni van had eight friends travelling from Mankhurd to Pune to attend another friend’s wedding. After it broke down near Panvel, the group of eight started pushing it so as to get to the nearest garage and have it repaired. That’s when the tempo rammed into them from behind, killing three from the group on the spot, grievously injuring two others who died on their way to the hospital.

The remaining three friends sustained injuries and are being treated in a civic hospital in Panvel, with one of them in a critical condition.

The deceased have been identified as Santosh Prajapati (40), Rashid Khan (24), Juman Shaikh (45), Dinesh Jaiswal (30) and Ayodhya Yadav (26). Of the remaining three, Ramchandra Yadav (30) was seriously injured while Sanjay Rajbhar (28) and Mundrika Jaiswal (36) sustained minor injuries. The tempo driver is absconding.

A policeman said on condition of anonymity, “We have registered a case against the unidentified tempo driver under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act. We are scanning the CCTV footage in the area, which will help us identify the tempo driver and the vehicle.”