Four dead after truck topples, falls on them in Mumbai, driver arrested

The vehicle got stuck in a drain, toppled as the driver accelerated; drainage contractor has been booked for negligence

Mumbai

The drain caved in under the weight of the truck at Surya Nagar in Vikhroli Park Site on Thursday night. (HT Photo)

Four people were killed after a truck, which was transporting food grains, fell on them at Surya Nagar, near Vikhroli Park Site, on Thursday night. As the truck’s wheel got stuck in a drainage chamber, the driver accelerated the engine to move the vehicle, causing it to topple and crush five people.

The truck driver and the contractor, who undertook work at the drainage chamber, were booked for causing death by negligence.

The driver, Deepak Jadhav, 44, was arrested on Friday.

Residents gathered outside Park Site police station to demand strict action against the contractor on Friday.

According to Vilas Jadhav, senior police inspector at Park Site police station, the incident took place at Sambaji Chowk , after 11.30pm, as heavy vehicles are allowed to ply on city roads only during designated time slots. They are usually not allowed to ply during the day.

“The drainage chamber could not take the weight of the fully-loaded truck and caved in when the truck drove over it. When the truck driver accelerated the engine, the weight of the load shifted and the truck toppled,” said a police officer from Park Site police station.

The five injured were admitted to Rajawadi Hospital. Four of them, Ashwin Hebare, 34; Vishal Shelar, 22; Chandrashekar Musale, 35; and Hamid Abdul Shaikh, 41, succumbed to their injuries. All four victims were married and have children, said police. Chand Shaikh, 38, is undergoing treatment.

“We have arrested the driver and are now trying to identify the contractor responsible,” said Jadhav.

According to residents, the poorly maintained drainage chamber at the site has been a problem for a while. They said they had previously filed several complaints with various authorities about the half-completed work at the site.

Some residents had even tweeted to Mumbai Police and were told that their complaints had been forwarded to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), they said. However, no concrete action had been taken. They also complained that repair work was undertaken at the site five to six times within a short span of time.