'We asked Pintu not to drive, but he didn't listen'

22-year-old Chavan, driving his four-wheeler heavily under the influence of alcohol hit a road divider in Mulund, leading to the death of two of his friends (Sachin Bhamne and Gaurav Mandal) and injuries to himself and another friend, Hemant Dhasal. Mohamed Thaver reports.

"Pintu (Chavan) was so drunk that he could hardly drive straight. The vehicle was going zigzag, as he could not control the steering. When we asked him to stop, he sped further. The next thing we knew, our vehicle had smashed into a container going ahead," Hemant Dhasal, one of the four friends injured in the Mulund accident said in his statement to the Navghar police.

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Around 1.30am on Wednesday, 22-year-old Chavan, driving his four-wheeler heavily under the influence of alcohol hit a road divider in Mulund, leading to the death of two of his friends (Sachin Bhamne and Gaurav Mandal) and injuries to himself and another friend, Hemant Dhasal.

Dhasal was the only person in the vehicle who was conscious after the accident and has helped police reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the accident.

Senior inspector of Navghar police Ganesh Gaikwad said, "All four occupants of the car were drunk. Dhasal told us that after they observed that Chavan was not able to drive properly, they told him to not drive the vehicle. He however did not listen to them, instead he increased the speed of the vehicle. Chavan was the owner of the Xylo vehicle."

They plan to arrest him once his condition improves. The police are also checking whether there were any alcohol bottles found in the car, as they suspect the friends were consuming alcohol while in the vehicle as well.