1 week Ago By Gitesh Shelke
Pune: A woman died while her husband and two others were injured when a mini truck hit a couple of two-wheelers, an autorickshaw and a car on the Karve Road stretch from Karishma Chowk to Paud Phata around 9.15pm on Sunday. The Alankar police identified the deceased as Geetanjali Amrale (34), a resident of Vivekanand Colony at Shashtrinagar .
Her husband, Shrikant Sambhaji Amrale , and two others, Sahil Pite (27) and Madhuri Dahotre, were injured and taken to a hospital. Amrale is an office-bearer of a political party's Kothrud unit, police said on Monday. "Doctors in the hospital declared Pite's condition as critical.
Dahotre's condition is stable," senior inspector Sunita Rokade of the Alankar police told TOI. "Shrikant and Geetanjali were on their way to Paud Phata from Karishma Chowk when the mini truck hit their scooter from the rear. Shrikant, who was riding the scooter, was injured.
Geetanjali died on the spot after falling from the two-wheeler," the officer said. "Before hitting the scooter, the mini truck, which was on its way to Lakdi Pul from Warje, had hit an autorickshaw driven by Somnath Salunkhe in front of Kimaya restaurant. It then veered to the right and again to the left to hit Pite's bike," Rokade said.
"Later, it hit Amrale's scooter in front of Raj restaurant and finally collided with a car under the Veer Savarkar flyover at Paud Phata before coming to a halt. Dahotre was riding pillion on Pite's bike," she added. The police arrested the mini truck driver, Ashish Anant Pawar (26) of Warje, on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and driving the vehicle under the influence of liquor, Rokade said.
Karvenagar resident Anuja Deshpande, who was driving the car that was hit by the mini truck, lodged a complaint. A case for offences under sections 105 (culpable homicide), 281 (rash driving on public way), 125 (a) and (b), both referring to acts endangering life or personal safety of others, and 324 (4) i.e.
mischief causing damage of more than Rs20,000, besides sections 184 (dangerous driving) and 185 (driving by a drunken person) of the Motor Vehicles Act, has been registered. In the event of conviction, the culpable homicide charge provides for 10 years in jail, while the other offences carry a punishment ranging between six months and three years. The police said Deshpande told them that she was returning home from a mall in Wakad along with her sister and father when the accident occurred.
She had halted under Veer Savarkar flyover for the traffic signal to turn green as she wanted to take a right turn to Karve Road going towards Karishma Chowk. The mini truck came all of a sudden from the opposite direction and hit her car. Some volunteers from a nearby Ganesh mandal and personnel from the Erandwane police chowky, located close to the accident spot, rushed to the victims' help.
Prashant Kanojia, a member of the political party Amrale was working for, said, "The couple were heading to the old parts of the city to visit Ganapati pandals. They have a son and a daughter." Raju Dhanawade, a worker of Erandwane Nagarik Sahakari Mitra Mandal, "I saw the truck hitting several vehicles on its way towards Paud Phata.
It came to a stop after colliding with the car under the flyover. The couple had fallen on the road and the truck's wheel had run over the woman.".
