Eastern Freeway accident: Mumbai cops ask traffic department for CCTV footage

The Dongri police have written to the traffic department to obtain CCTV footage of Saturday’s Eastern Freeway accident in which six people were

The Dongri police have written to the traffic department to obtain CCTV footage of Saturday’s Eastern Freeway accident in which six people were killed and three others were injured after a Santro taxi carrying nine people of the driver’s family crashed on the road.

Six people were killed and three injured after a Santro taxi carrying nine people of the driver’s family crashed into a divider on the Eastern Freeway on Saturday. (Hindustan Times)

The driver, Mangru Verma, survived the crash and is recovering at JJ hospital. The police said his statement has not been recorded yet as he is still in shock due to the loss of his wife and two children.

Read: 6 killed on Freeway after taxi with 9 crashes in Mumbai

An official of the regional transport office (RTO) visited the accident spot on Saturday and examined the entire stretch. The RTO also inspected the taxi. The driver may have lost control of the taxi owing to high speed, said a police officer. “The team will probe every possible aspect that led to the accident and will submit a report soon,” said Ankur Katkar, senior inspector of Dongri police station.

Katkar said, “The exact cause of the accident will be clear once the driver’s statement is recorded. Mangru’s blood sample has been sent to the lab to examine whether he was drunk at the time of the accident. As per the preliminary investigation, it appears that he was not drunk.” The survivors had told the police that the accident took place after a vehicle overtook the taxi on the exit ramp and Mangru swerved the car to avoid a collision and lost control of the car.