6 killed, 3 injured in late night E-way crash

Navi Mumbai: Six people were killed and two seriously injured in a late night accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Thursday

Navi Mumbai:

Navi Mumbai, India - November 18, 2022: Mangled remains of the Ertiga car in which six people died in an accident on Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Thursday night after the car rammed into a container, at Khalapur, Raigad District, in Navi Mumbai, India, on Friday, November 18, 2022. (Photo by Bachchan Kumar/HT PHOTO) (HT PHOTO)

Six people were killed and two seriously injured in a late night accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Thursday. One of them sustained minor injuries.

All nine were travelling in an Ertiga, which hit an unknown vehicle when the driver lost control of the car. The passengers had boarded the vehicle individually from Pimpri and Chinchwad, in Pune, and were headed for Mumbai.

The accident occurred in Khopoli (at 37-kilometer point) at around 11.40pm – the impact of the collision was severe and the car damaged beyond recognition.

Police inspector Shirish Pawar, from Khopoli police station, said, “Our initial assessment is that the driver of the car was over-speeding and rammed onto a container from behind, which killed five on the spot; the sixth person died in the course of treatment.”

The two seriously injured, including the driver of the car, are admitted at MGM, Kamothe (nearly 10 kilometers from Navi Mumbai). Kamothe cops said they are not in a state to give their statements.

“The owner of the car is a resident of Pune although the vehicle was being driven by someone else. We have asked the RTO for the documents of the car. It does not have a tourist permit and if it transpires that it was regularly used for commercial purposes, we will take legal action against the owner,” said assistant police inspector, Rakeysh Kadam, from Khopoli police station.

There is another confusion that needs to be cleared -- according to Vahan portal, the registration of the vehicle belongs to a green Ertiga, while the car in the accident is white. The portal also underscores that the insurance had expired in 2019.

“We have booked the driver of the car, Machindranath Ambure (40), under sections of IPC and Motor Vehicle Act for causing death by negligence and rash driving,” said Pawar.

The passengers who died on the spot have been identified as Abdul Rehman Khan (32), resident of Ghatkopar; Anil Sunil Sanap, 32, resident of Navy Nagar; Wasim Sajid Kazi, 38, from Ratnagiri; Rahul Kumar Pandey (30), from Kamothe; and Ashutosh Navnath Gandekar, (24), resident of Andheri. Ameerullah Chaudhary, 42, a Ghatkopar resident succumbed during treatment.

Apart from the driver, Deepak Khairal, from Ajmer, was seriously injured. Asfia Rais Chaudhary (25), from Kurla, sustained minor injuries. The injured are undergoing treatment at MGM Hospital, Kamothe.

Bereaved loved ones

Wasim Kazi’s family woke up to the news of the car crash early on Friday morning. Kazi’s friend Advocate Khalil Girkar spotted the news on TV. The two were roommates along with Kazi’s cousin for three years at the JJ Magdum College of Engineering, Kolhapur, from 2003. Kazi was a shy person who was at ease only in the company of a select circle of friends, said Girkar.

After academia, he had returned to his home town to join his father’s mango business, and eventually set up a largescale cashew processing unit at Rajapur. “His unit clicked and he sent his products to Mumbai,” said Girkar. “He would attend various agri exhibitions to market his product and also polish his knowhow on the subject.” Kazi was the youngest of three brothers and one sister, and is survived by his wife, a homemaker, and a 10-year-old son and four-year-old daughter.

Valliullah Khan, nephew of the deceased Ameerullah Mohammad Hussain Chaudhary, a Goregaon-resident, said, “His wife has been inconsolable since learning about the accident.”

Pramila Navghare, a neighbour of the Gandekars, in Andheri, said, “Ashutosh was fondly called Bandya in the area. He was soft-spoken and friendly. His father Navnath used to make garlands, especially for weddings and other functions, and Ashutosh would often deliver them to help out his father.”

She said the family lived a hard life but managed to educate their son and daughter, both engineers. Ashutosh’s sister works in Chakan, Pune. “The entire family is in a state of shock. His parents were planning to move to Pune and take it easy in life as their son had started working,” said Navghare.

Another neighbour, Ruti Dhuri, said, “He was very hardworking and his death has shocked us all. The chawl had seen him grow from a small boy to an adult.”

Ashutosh’s parents learnt about the accident at around 3 am and left for Khopoli early in the morning, she added. “We are worried about the parents now. Our neighbourhood woke up to their lament in the morning. Some of them accompanied them to the spot from where they will go to the hospital,” said Dhuri.

(Additional inputs by Vinay Dalvi)