‘Last drive’ ends in tragedy

When Nikita Sood called her friends for the ‘last drive’ in her Maruti Swift before its new owner took it away, she did not imagine it would be the last drive for one of them.

When Nikita Sood called her friends for the ‘last drive’ in her Maruti Swift before its new owner took it away, she did not imagine it would be the last drive for one of them.

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Sood (19), on Wednesday, took her car for an early morning spin with her friends — Kinjal Parekh (20), Ankita Gada (20) and Priyal Gosani (20) —after she learnt that her father had sold it. But the drive ended in tragedy as Parekh died when the four-wheeler met with an accident near Airoli bridge.

“We sold the Swift car on Tuesday. When Nikita found out, she called her friends for one last long drive,” said a family friend of the Soods.

Barely 15 minutes after the girls left their Sarvodaya Nagar home in Mulund, the car collided with a motor transport trailer near the Airoli bridge.

“Around 6.30 am, when the car was headed towards Ghatkopar, one of its front tyres burst and it came to a screeching halt,” said Ritesh Kumar, additional commissioner of police (east region). “That is when a speeding trailer collided with it at the left rear end.”

Sood was driving the car while Parekh was seated on the left of the back seat.

Parekh, who suffered a skull fracture, died in hospital. Her father, Vijay, is a sugar trader.

“A case of negligence and rash driving has been registered against the unidentified driver of the trailer,” said Kumar. “We are taking details of heavy vehicles that passed by the check naka in the morning and are checking with the Regional Transport Office.”

All four girls were students of SIES College, Sion and drove to college in the same car.