Maharashtra Congress secretary dies two days after car accident

Purnekar, 45, met with an accident on the Aurangabad-Gangapur Road on Sunday evening. He was travelling in an SUV with Congress leader Sanjay Choupane and two others, when it rammed into a a bus.

Two days after an accident in Aurangabad, Maharashtra state Congress secretary Balkrishna Purnekar succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.

Balkrishna Purnekar (HT)

Purnekar, 45, met with an accident on the Aurangabad-Gangapur Road on Sunday evening. He was travelling in an SUV with Congress leader Sanjay Choupane and two others, when it rammed into a a bus. Choupane died on the spot, while Purnekar and two others were injured.

Purnekar suffered head injuries and was admitted to Sigma Hospital in Aurangabad. However, he was not responding to treatment, said a senior Congress leader from Thane. He succumbed to his injuries at 1.30am on Tuesday. The final rites were held in Thane.

Manoj Shinde, Thane’s Congress unit president, said, “We have lost a fighter. He used to lead from the front. He will be missed in the entire state.”

Purnekar, who was the former president of Thane Congress. He began his political journey after he joined the students’ wing of the Shiv Sena. In the early 1990s, he quit the Sena and joined the Congress and was elected a corporator in 1997. He was known for his protests.