Holes in Pune road claims 60-year-old’s life, PMC junior engineer among 3 arrested
Identified as Rashid Rustom Irani, a resident of Sarbatwala chowk in Camp, was riding his Honda Activa in front of the Botanical garden, Mundhwa, at 6.30 am, when he lost balance due to holes in the road, fell down and died due to fatal injuries
Three people, including a junior engineer from the water distribution department of the Pune municipal corporation (PMC), have been arrested for causing the death of a 60-year-old manager of a renowned Irani cafe in Kharadi.
Identified as Rashid Rustom Irani, a resident of Sarbatwala chowk in Camp, was riding his Honda Activa in front of the Botanical garden, Mundhwa, at 6.30 am, when he lost balance due to holes in the road, fell down and died due to fatal injuries.
The holes were dug by a PMC-appointed contractor on two parts of the road that connects Tadigutta chowk to Mundhwa, to fix a leak in an underground water pipeline.
“This happened despite a warning given by our policemen on the night round. They were informed that a similar accident had claimed a life in July this year. Despite our warning, they left the site unattended,” said Pandit Rejitwad, assistant police inspector, Mundhwa police station. “The digging started at 10 pm and went on till 3 am. Passersby had warned the site workers to put barricades up and wear jackets themselves in order to avoid an accident. Of the two holes dug, a sign was put up near one hole, but a tree branch and leaves were covering the hole where Irani crashed and died,” said Amit Walke, police sub inspector of Mundhwa police station, who is investigating the case.
Initially, a case under Section 304(a) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at Mundhwa police station. However, other sections of IPC were also added and the number of accused increased from one to three.
The three are Shahurao Sheshrao Kakade,43, the contractor; Indrajit Vasantrao Deshmukh, 27, junior engineer, water distribution, Lashkar division; and Uttereshwar Mohan Narsinghe, 33, supervisor. They were arrested at 6.30 pm and will be produced before a local court on Friday.
The deceased man’s son is a sailor on a commercial vessel and is currently off-shore near China, police said. Irani’s daughter is in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and is now on her way to Pune. Irani’s remains are currently at the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) morgue.