A five-year-old girl was killed and a woman was injured in a drunk-driving accident at Grant Road on Sunday morning. The girl was crossing a road near Novelty Cinema when a dumper truck hit her. The truck driver has been arrested.
Five-year-old Diwina Parekh’s family said the girl, who lived near the Cinema house was walking back with her grandmother from nearby Jain Mandir at around 10.30 am.
“When the duo was near Grant Road junction and was crossing the road, the dumper driver ran into Diwina and one more passer-by, Rita Parekh. The dumper wheel went over Diwina’s head and she died on the spot. The other woman had a minor injury and was shifted to a nearby hospital,” a police official said.
Diwina was rushed to the JJ Hospital but was declared dead on arrival. Her body was later sent for the postmortem. The driver, a 22-year-old named Rajesh Yadav, tried to flee the spot after the incident, was caught by police. The police said Yadav was under the influence of alcohol. “We have booked him for rash and negligent driving and death due to negligence,” said investigation officer D. Jadhav.
Diwina’s family demanded strict action against the driver. “Diwina was the only girl her parents had She was very excited going with me during her holidays to the Jain temple in the morning,” said Bharati Parekh, Diwina’s grandmother.
While the police is scrutinising CCTV footage and investigating into the case, the accused claimed it was the fault of Diwana’s grandmother who tried to cross the road in a hurry. He said the grandmother had let go of the girl’s hand while crossing, because of which driver got confused and could not control his vehicle.
