BHIWANDI: A 21-year-old software engineer riding a motorcycle was crushed to death under a truck after the two-wheeler rode over a pothole in Bhiwandi where work on laying the road was going on, reports Pradeep Gupta. The crash, which took place on Jan 19, was initially registered as an ‘accidental death’, but police booked the driver for ‘negligence’ on Friday based on their probe.
The biker, Wadala resident Aiyaz Shemale, had gone to attend a friend’s birthday party with a few others from Mumbai, all of them on their bikes.His went over a pothole due to which he lost balance, causing him and pillion rider Javed Ansari (22) to fall, states the police complaint lodged by their friend Adil Ansari (21). He told TOI that tragedy struck as they were passing by Kasba Dhaba, heading towards Mumbai-Nashik highway,
As the two on the bike fell, the techie’s leg came under the rear wheel of the truck while the pillion rider’s jacket got wedged under the tyre. A friend on another bike alerted the truck driver. As the truck halted, the pillion rider pulled himself out of harm’s way by ripping off his jacket.
The complainant goes on to mention that while the biker was caught under the wheel of the truck, its “driver carelessly moved the vehicle back and forth, dragging the biker at least 4 to 5 metres”. The driver then fled the scene.