BMW accident at Worli: Woman may have pressed accelerator instead of brake

A day after two women and an infant were killed and another woman seriously injured after a BMW car they were travelling in crashed into a divider at Worli, police

A day after two women and an infant were killed and another woman seriously injured after a BMW car they were travelling in crashed into a divider at Worli, police on Saturday registered an offence against the lone survivor, Namita Bhatija, for causing death due to rash and negligent driving.

HT Image

An eyewitness claimed Namita, who is battling for her life at the ICU of Jaslok Hospital accelerated instead of applying brakes and rammed the car into the divider. Her mother Bhavna, 58; a relative Juhi Gurunani, 52; and her six-month-old daughter Nishika were killed in the crash.

Namita, Bhavna along with the infant had left their Andheri house to go to NSCI club and had picked up Juhi from her Worli residence when the incident took place around 4.30pm.

A shop owner, Usman Shaikh, who witnessed the accident, said, “The vehicle was at a high speed and the driver probably panicked as she did not notice a speed breaker ahead. Because of the speed breaker, her vehicle jumped up a little. As a result, she lost control over the wheels and instead of applying brakes, she perhaps put her foot on the accelerator and ended up colliding head-on with the divider. As she had her foot on the accelerator, the car kept moving ahead in a circular direction before it eventually stopped.”

The speed breaker at the spot is very low in height and there is a zebra crossing at the spot for locals. But, there was no warning for the speed breaker.

“The road crossing at the spot is used by many. Luckily, no one was crossing the road at the time of the accident,” said a police officer. “There was a similar accident at the same spot around two years ago. We have been requesting authorities to install a traffic signal,” said Nilesh Kambale, a local resident.

“Namita has a proper driving license issued from Pune RTO and has no past history of negligent driving. The vehicle is registered in her husband’s name,” said Sukhlal Varpe, senior inspector of Worli police station. “We checked if any CCTV camera covered the accident, but nothing could be found. We will get to know the exact cause of the accident only after recording the statement of the injured woman.”

The police have registered a case under relevant sections.