E-Paper
Sisters run from pillar to post to ascertain how their brother died in accident on WEH
Sisters in Mumbai are searching for answers regarding the death of their brother in a scooter accident due to lack of CCTV footage and eyewitnesses.
MUMBAI: For the past 33 days, Pavleen Kaur, who lives in Bhiwandi, and her elder sister Ekneet Kaur, who has flown down from USA, have been searching for answers. Their only brother, 26-year-old Harnek Singh Saini, died in an accident on the Western Express Highway (WEH) on October 6, and in the absence of CCTV recordings and eyewitnesses, the sisters are clueless about the exact cause of the accident.
According to Ekneet, the accident happened at 1.30 am opposite Metro Mall between Kandivali and Borivali. Although the Kasturba Marg police said that Harnek died after his scooter skidded, crashed into a metro rail pillar and turned turtle, his sisters maintain that he was hit by a vehicle from behind. Ekneet has alleged that the four CCTV cameras in the vicinity of the accident spot were not working, and thus no footage was available to ascertain how exactly her brother died.
Recounting the events of that day, Ekneet said Harnek had cooked dinner for their father. “He then got called by his childhood friend, Aniket Narkar, to Andheri,” she said. “He left, saying that he would return for dinner.”
Harnek and his friend went to a Versova cafe where they met their other friends. Aniket then proceeded to Borivali with friends Aarya Satpute and Shivani Bharadwaj while Harnek followed on his bike.
At Samta Nagar, Aniket’s car overtook Harnek’s scooter. When the group reached Borivali station, they called up Harnek to find out where he was. A police officer answered the phone and informed them that he had met with an accident. Narkar then called Pavleen.
“Harnek was taken to the Jogeshwari Trauma Centre and later shifted to Shatabdi Hospital, where he breathed his last. I claimed his body from the hospital,” said Pavleen.
Ekneet rued that 33 days later, they still did not know how Harnek met with the accident. “Whether he was hit by another vehicle or skidded is not yet clear,” she said. “The CCTV cameras of the area are non-functional and the police have not made any effort to track down eyewitnesses. Why are CCTVs even installed if they are non-functional at such a crucial spot?”
Ekneet added that there were cameras mounted on cranes being used for a private construction, but the people concerned told the police that they did not store past recordings. “The recordings available show Harnek’s scooter just for a second,” she said. “The rest of the display is dim and the number plates of passing vehicles are not visible.”
When contacted, Anil Awhad, senior police inspector at the Kasturba Marg police station, said that Harnek was not hit by any vehicle. “A watchman who was on duty near the accident spot told us that he heard a crash and came out to investigate,” he said. “He did not witness the accident, as his vision was obscured by the pillar but he saw the scooter turned turtle, with damage to the back of the two-wheeler. The conclusion we have drawn is that he skidded. The investigation is still on.”
The sisters, who also met the watchman, have been trying to track down eye-witnesses ever since they came out of their 10-day mourning. “All we want is proof—which the police do not have—of how Harnek died,” said Pavleen. “We need it so that our family can get closure.”
