24-year-old techie dies as car rams into his bike on WEH

The accident occurred around 4.30 am, when Kishan Sagar Chandra was on the way to his workplace in Malad on his motorbike. The police took Chandra to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Kandivali, where doctors declared him dead before admission.

MUMBAI: A 24-year-old Tech Mahindra employee was killed in the early hours of Friday when a four-wheeler coming from the wrong side of the road ran him over near the Magathane bridge on Western Express Highway (WEH).

24-year-old techie dies as car rams into his bike on WEH

The accident occurred around 4.30 am, when Kishan Sagar Chandra was on the way to his workplace in Malad on his motorbike. The police took Chandra to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Kandivali, where doctors declared him dead before admission.

Chandra got a new job at a tech company in Malad three months back. His work started at 5 am, and he would ride to the office from his house in Bhayander East every morning.

Chandra’s family believes he could have been saved with timely medical help. “Someone had called us from his phone right after he met with the accident. He was still conscious at the time. Sometime later, the police took him to the hospital, and we also went straight to the hospital,” his mother, Geeta, said.

At the hospital, the family said they were told Kishan was just unconscious and the doctors would attend to him soon. Fifteen minutes later, they were told he was no more. Geeta questions why the police could not have taken him to a hospital that was located closer instead of taking him to Kandivali.

His elder sister, Kajal, a psychologist, also said that if Kishan had gotten timely help, he would have been alive, even if it was without a limb. “We have seen the CCTV footage of the incident. A car driving from the wrong side is seen bumping into him and then dragging him a considerable distance. He had suffered a very severe injury to his legs but was alive when he made a passer-by stop to look at him and call us,” she said.

Kajal said that if Kishan had got appropriate medical aid, including access to an ICU, he would have survived the accident. “He had just started to live, and now he is gone. He was struggling with his injury for twenty minutes, but nobody stopped to help him, which caused him to lose time in which he could be saved,” she said.

The new job had made the Chandra family very happy. Kishan was also excited as the job stability meant he could plan to get married in the next year.

Meanwhile, the Kasturba Marg police have booked the unknown accused under sections 279 (rash and negligent driving that endangers human life) and 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.

Officials refuted the allegations of neglect from their side, saying they arrived at the spot as soon as they were informed of the accident. “Police are only allowed to take accident victims to government hospitals. We did everything by the book,” he said.

In another accident, Alimabi Sheikh, 35, a resident of Aarey colony, was knocked down by a biker while she was waiting for a bus to go to work on Friday morning. The incident took place around 9.30 am at the bus stop in unit 22 of Aarey colony. The motorbike that dashed into her was Mehdi Mehboob Pradhan, who was booked under sections 279 (rash and negligent driving that endangers human life) and 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code. He was later arrested by the police.