Woman learning to drive hits, kills 2 children in Navy Nagar

Mumbai: In a driving lesson gone terribly wrong, two minor brothers aged 12 and seven were crushed to death on Saturday afternoon when an unlicensed lady driver lost control over her Santro car, pressing its accelerator instead of the brakes upon seeing the bicycle-borne victims on a Navy Nagar road in Colaba. The driver, Sangita Devi Rai (36), was learning driving from her husband, army officer Santosh Kumar Rai (36), who was sitting beside her on the front seat of the vehicle.

One of the deceased, Akshansh Dhyani (12), was riding the bicycle while the other, Abhay Dhyani (7), was riding pillion on it. The Cuffe Parade police has arrested the couple on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and rash and negligent driving read with common intention.

“On seeing the car coming from the opposite end of the road, the kids actually slowed down their bicycle and went to the corner. But the driver had panicked and lost control over the car, crushing one of the kids against a tree while it ran over the other kid,” said a police officer.

The accident occurred at 2.15pm on Saturday when Sangita was learning to drive at Navy Nagar when she accidentally pushed the accelerator instead of the brakes and rammed the car, killing Akshansh and Abhay. The two bicycle-borne boys were playing with their brother and tried to move away from the road when they saw the car rushing towards them but in vain. Both kids were grievously injured and died almost immediately.

“Since Sangita hit the accelerator instead of the brakes, the car picked up speed and went out of control, ramming into the kids,” said a senior police official from Cuffe Parade police station. Sangita and Santosh were arrested and presented in court on Monday. They will be kept in police custody for 15 days.