MUMBAI: Two lives were lost, and three individuals sustained injuries when a speeding tempo collided with a stationary taxi and a cement mixer truck on the Lalbaugh flyover on Sunday. The collision occurred during a heated exchange between the taxi and cement mixer drivers.
According to the police, the cement mixer brushed against the taxi, triggering an argument between the drivers. The dispute led to both vehicles halting on the flyover, where the tempo crashed into the taxi, forcibly pushing the car into the cement mixer.
The Kalachowkie police received a call around 5:30 am reporting the accident on the south bound Lalbaug flyover. “When our teams were on the way to the spot, we found that there was a huge traffic jam. We got down from our vehicles and walked towards the spot. We found that two people were stuck in the wheel of the tempo and could see that the tempo had crashed into the taxi and the taxi was pushed into the cement mixer truck standing ahead of it,” said a police officer from Kalachowkie police station.
The police disclosed that ten minutes before the collision, the cement mixer driver, Jai Ram Yadav, had informed his supervisor, Uttam Kalel, informing him that while driving the mixer towards Byculla he had brushed a taxi on the Lalbaugh flyover, and the taxi driver Rajesh Jaiswar was arguing with him. Kalel told him that they would settle the matter and were ready to pay the taxi driver. As Kalel again called the cement mixer driver, his phone was answered by somebody else who told him the mixer driver and others had met with an accident.
{{/usCountry}}The police disclosed that ten minutes before the collision, the cement mixer driver, Jai Ram Yadav, had informed his supervisor, Uttam Kalel, informing him that while driving the mixer towards Byculla he had brushed a taxi on the Lalbaugh flyover, and the taxi driver Rajesh Jaiswar was arguing with him. Kalel told him that they would settle the matter and were ready to pay the taxi driver. As Kalel again called the cement mixer driver, his phone was answered by somebody else who told him the mixer driver and others had met with an accident.
{{/usCountry}}The woman in the taxi, identified as Kokila Rajesh Wagari, 50, a resident of Gol Deol Mandir in Sion, was en route to Bhaucha Dhakka in Mazgaon to purchase fish. Currently receiving treatment at KEM Hospital, she is reported to be out of danger. Both Yadav and the tempo driver, Lalulal Saket, are also being treated for injuries
Saket, a resident of Danabunder, was taking tempo home. He claimed he did not expect stationary vehicles on the Lalbaug flyover and collided with them after accelerating. Regrettably, the cleaner of the cement mixer, Duryodhan Gaikwad, and taxi driver Jaiswar lost their lives when the speeding tempo ran over them.
The police have registered a case against tempo driver Saket under various sections 304A (causing death by negligence), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) of the Indian Penal Code and also under section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for dangerous driving. The accused, currently undergoing treatment, has not been arrested.