One killed, two hurt in freak mishap; Uran police book drunk NMMT driver

Navi Mumbai bus driver arrested after bus collides with tempo & bikes, killing one & injuring two. Villagers demand compensation. Investigation ongoing.

Navi Mumbai

One killed, two hurt in freak mishap; Uran police book drunk NMMT driver

The Uran police have arrested the driver of a NMMT AC bus after the bus went out of control and rammed onto a tempo and two bikes, killing a one and injuring two more in Khopta village in Uran.

The bus driver has been identified as Namdev Girju Pol (52), a permanent employee of NMMT. The freak accident took place when the NMMT bus went off road and dashed a tempo beig unloaded on the side of theand two bikes causing serious injuries one of them later succumbed to the injuries and the third injured was the driver of the tempo onto which the bus rammed. The deceased have been identified as Nilesh Shashikant Mhatre (38) who worked with Amey Logistics. The injured are Keshav Atmaram Thakur, a resident of Khopta village and he was on his two-wheeler and Arun Bajirao Bhodate, a resident of Koparkhairane and the driver of the tempo who was seated inside the tempo during the collison.

In the cctv captured, the bus is seen going off road out of control of the driver and ramming onto the parked tempo while two men were seen off loading some goods. After noticing that the speeding bus was coming towards them, the duo rushed outside and were unharmed in the collision. The accident happened at around 10.05 am at Khopta-Koproli road in Uran. The case has been registered by Vinay Shashikant Mhatre (32), brother of the deceased man wherein he has claimed that the bus driver was driving under the influence of alcohol which caused the accident. Meanwhile the police have claimed that the breathe analyser report was positive and the blood reports are awaited.

Following the accident, the angry villagers of Khopta village had conducted a rasta roko on the road, stopping all the NMMT vehicles from passing by. The villagers demanded compensation from NMMT for the family of deceased and injured. “We have suspended the driver without further delay. We are also conducting internal investigation into the incident. The driver had finished his duty on Wednesday at 1 pm and resumed back on 5am on Thursday,” NMMT Manager Yogesh Kaduskar said. “There was a traffic jam on the road till around 6 pm after the accident due to the rasta roko,” a traffic official said. Right from Deputy Commissioner of Police, all senior officers of Zone II were on the road to control the villagers and convince them to go back home.

“When we tested him through breath analyser, it showed the presence of alcohol. For further confirmation, we have sent the blood samples and the report is awaited,” senior police inspector Satish Nikam from Uran Police Station said.