Man dies after being hit by dumper truck in Mulund

In Mulund, a man was killed and an elderly woman injured in separate accidents involving heavy vehicles, sparking local anger over pedestrian safety.

MUMBAI: Two pedestrians were knocked down by heavy vehicles in separate accidents in Mulund on Saturday, leaving one man dead and an elderly woman seriously injured.

Man dies after being hit by dumper truck in Mulund

According to the police, the first accident occurred around 1 pm near the vegetable market on Guru Gobind Singh Marg in Mulund Colony when a 35-year-old man, Suresh Rajput, was killed after being hit by a dumper truck in Mulund West and suffered serious injuries.

The driver of the dumper allegedly fled the spot after the accident. After some passersby alerted the family, Suresh was rushed to Agarwal Hospital, where doctors declared him dead at 2.15 pm. Suresh had sustained severe injuries to his head, abdomen and limbs. Based on a complaint filed by his elder brother, Vijay Babu Rajput, 50, the police registered a case against the unidentified driver, and efforts are on to trace him.

The police said that in the second incident, an elderly woman, Chudamadevi Saduttaran Gupta, was injured after being hit by a heavy vehicle near the Mulund Check Naka bus depot on Saturday evening. Her son, Jitendra Guma, a carpenter, said he was informed about the accident around 6.45 pm. With the help of a rickshaw driver and a BEST bus staffer who was present there, the injured woman was taken to Agarwal Hospital in Mulund.

Police said the woman suffered a head injury resulting in brain trauma. Preliminary investigations revealed that the bus struck her near the depot gate while entering the premises. The bus driver has been booked, and a notice has been issued to him to join the investigation, a Mulund police officer said.

The twin accidents have triggered anger among residents of Mulund Colony, who alleged negligence by civic and police authorities. Locals claimed that ongoing road concretisation works and encroachment of footpaths by hawkers have forced pedestrians onto the carriageway, increasing the risk of accidents.

Advocate Kamal Kotai, a resident of the area, said repeated complaints to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) over the past two years had gone unheeded. “Footpaths are not kept clear for pedestrians. With the flyover demolition, heavy vehicles are now passing through the colony and are being driven rashly, with little regard for pedestrian safety,” he said.