Man unloading chickens dies in freak accident after tempo door hits BEST bus in Andheri

MUMBAI: A 53-year-old man, Farid Ahmad Shaikh, died in a freak accident in MIDC, Andheri East on Wednesday after a stationary tempo door from which he was unloading chickens grazed a passing BEST bus and hit him

MUMBAI: A 53-year-old man, Farid Ahmad Shaikh, died in a freak accident in MIDC, Andheri East on Wednesday after a stationary tempo door from which he was unloading chickens grazed a passing BEST bus and hit him. The MIDC police have registered a case against the bus driver.

According to the police, the incident occurred at 10.15 am when the bus, operated by Mateshwari Urban Transport Solutions under a wet-lease arrangement with BEST, was travelling from Majas Depot towards Andheri. The bus driver in his statement said that a tempo was parked on the left side of the road, and a worker unloading chickens from it suddenly opened the tempo’s rear door.

“The door struck the bus’s left rear corner before rebounding and hitting Shaikh, causing him to fall and sustain injuries,” said a BEST official. “The bus driver initially continued ahead but stopped after passengers informed him that a person had been injured in an incident involving the bus. Meanwhile, other workers from the chicken shop arrived on motorcycles and confronted the driver, informing him that the injured man had been taken to hospital.”

Later that night, at around 9.45 pm, the police informed the driver over the phone that Shaikh had succumbed to his injuries. The driver was asked to report to the police station at 10 am on Thursday for further investigation. An accidental death report was registered on October 21, and the MIDC police subsequently registered an FIR against the bus driver under Sections 106(1), 281 and 125(B) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

The bus driver and conductor have been summoned for further investigation. The police are probing the circumstances leading to the accident, including the movement of the bus and the opening of the tempo’s rear door.