2 teens killed near Mumbai: Kin blame pothole; cops deny claim

The father of the victims claimed he was trying to avoid a pothole ahead of him and slowed down the bike when the tanker hit them from behind

Prakash Gharat, 44, and his wife Rekha, 38, survived an accident on Sunday night on the Mumbai-Nashik highway when their bike, according to the police, was hit by a tanker when he tried to overtake it from the wrong side. But their children, Kamini, a 16-year-old girl and Sachin, a 14-year-old boy, were killed when they came under the tanker’s tyre after falling down.

The pothole at Shahapur on the Mumbai-Nashik highway. (HT)

According to police, all four family members were returning to Vasind on the motorbike from Avre village in Shahapur where they had gone to celebrate Raksha Bandhan with their relatives.

Gharat however, claimed he was trying to avoid a pothole ahead of him and slowed down when the tanker hit them from behind.

As he and his wife fell on the side of the road, the children were crushed by the tanker’s tyres.

Police said the accused driver fled the spot and they had seized the tanker.

One of Gharat’s relatives, on the condition of anonymity, said, “In the past couple of months, potholes have caused many deaths but the authorities are not taking this issue seriously.”

Police, however, refuted this theory.

Mahesh Shetty, an inspector from the Shahapur police station said, “There are small potholes on the road but the accident was not due to them. We have registered a hit-and-run case on the tanker driver.”

“Apart from that, we analysed the road but no major pothole was found. Even if we did we would have filled it up as soon as possible. We have also asked the concerned department to look into the road condition,” said Shetty.