5 killed as cop loses control of speeding SUV near Pune

 Five persons were killed and two college students seriously injured when a speeding sports utility vehicle (SUV) being driven by a deputy superintendent of police (Dy SP) from the state CID (crime) went out of control on Pune-Ahmednagar Road on Monday afternoon.

The mishap took place at Kondhapuri village in Shirur taluka, about 45 km from Pune. The deceased included the wife of the Dy SP, a college student, a container driver and his cleaner, two youths and a 73-year-old man.

The Shikrapur police claimed that the mishap took place when the Dy SP tried to dodge a group of college students crossing the road.

The Dy SP, Dinkar Shamrao Mahajan, also sustained serious injuries in the mishap. He has been admitted to a private hospital in Pune. The police identified the deceased as Rajaram Gaikwad (73, resident of Vakdi, Jalgaon), Dy SP Mahajan’s wife Minakshi (45, resident of Akola), college student Varsha Bhanudas Gaikwad (18, Kondhapuri), container driver and cleaner Kanaram Kumar (22, Rajasthan) and Mahadev Kumar (19, resident of Rajasthan). 

The injured students include Ruplai Ubhe (18) and Komal Kokate (18), both residents of Kondhapuri village.

According to the police, Mahajan was proceeding towards Pune in a white Safari (MH-19, AX 8639) along with his wife, brother-in-law and father-in-law Rajaram Gaikwad from Ahmednagar.

Superintendent of police (Pune rural) Manojkumar Lohia told dna, “The SUV had reached near Archana hotel on the Pune-Ahmednagar Road when the mishap took place at 4.30 pm. A container was parked along the road outside the hotel and the container driver and his assistant were changing its deflated tyre. A group of students returning home from college was crossing the road at the same spot.”

Lohia said, “Prima facie, Mahajan lost control over the SUV. He first mowed down the college students and then the container driver and his assistant.”

The police claimed to have found witnesses who claim that three girl college students were going home. They came in front of Archana hotel and started crossing the road when Mahajan’s SUV reached there.

Local resident Prakash Chavan told dna, “The dead and injured students lived on one side of the road while the college is on the other side. Apparently Mahajan saw the girls crossing the road a bit late and tried to avoid hitting them. However, he could not control the high speed of the SUV. He lost control over it in the process and ran over the girls. Later, the SUV hit the container. Such was the impact that the sound of the collision was heard 500 metres from the spot.”

Policemen from Shikrapur rushed to the spot after receiving information about the incident. Meanwhile, the local residents shifted the victims to a nearby private hospital.

Assistant police inspector Umesh Tawaskar from Shikrapur police station told dna, “The injured girls have been admitted to a private hospital in Pune while Mahajan himself too received serious injuries in the mishap. The situation is under control.”