A day after two youngsters died in a car crash on the Mumbai-Vadodara highway, the Badlapur police registered an FIR against the sole survivor, Angad Gill, who was prima facie driving the BMW Z-series convertible.
Gill suffered a serious head injury and is still in a coma at Fortis Hospital in Kalyan. The two deceased, Yogesh Negi and Rebecca Jacob, were colleagues in a private company.
The trio was on a night out to celebrate Negi’s 26th birthday, which took a fatal turn in the early hours of Sunday when the car, allegedly travelling at 251 kmph, crashed against a divider on the under-construction Mumbai-Vadodara Highway near Badlapur.
The impact was so severe that the car was reduced to a mangled heap of metal and the occupants were flung nearly 500 feet from the crash site. Severed body parts were later found scattered 50 to 100 feet away.
The RTO and forensic teams have visited the crash site and collected technical and biological samples for further investigation.
Sachin Gore, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 4, said that Gill had been booked under Sections 105 and 281 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 112, 183, 184 and 194(B) of the Motor Vehicles Act related to rash and negligent driving.
“We are trying to obtain footage from nearby areas to ascertain the speed of the car and also whether the occupants were under the influence of alcohol,” he said.
Kishore Shinde, senior police inspector in Badlapur West, told HT that the stretch had gained notoriety as an accident spot and at least three fatal accidents had taken place there.
“Preliminary investigations suggest that Gill survived because he was behind the wheel at the time of the accident and his airbag deployed soon after the crash,” he said.
“However, the other two occupants were flung out of the car and died on the spot.”
As local residents have unauthorisedly opened entry points to the highway, vehicles drive on the stretch at very high speeds.
Pankaj Shirsath, the traffic DCP of Thane, told HT that he visited the accident spot and the entire stretch, and found at least 15 illegal entry points on the incomplete highway.
“There are no lights on the entire stretch and it does not have proper signage,” he said.
“The public must not use it as a shortcut to their destination. I have directed NHAI officials and the contractor to depute personnel at each entry point and shut them to prevent any further accidents.”
Suhas Chitnis, project director, NHAI, when contacted, corroborated that the highway was meant to be used only by the construction and technical staff working on the project, but locals had started using it illegally.
“We had put up boards saying that the highway was not open to the public,” he said.
“We have barricaded the entry points and deployed our staff to stop them but locals forcefully remove the barricades and threaten our staff because they want to use the road as a shortcut and for thrill-seeking.
This same spot witnessed two accidents recently.”
Bhagwan Bhoir, a resident of Eranjad village, told HT that villagers had witnessed several accidents and had also suffered injuries due to rash driving by motorists.
“After dark, many local youths come onto the road and perform dangerous stunts, risking their own lives as well as those of villagers,” he said.
Bhoir demanded that the road be kept closed at all times until it was fully completed and safe.
An official from Shivalaya Construction, which is constructing the stretch, said that many of their staffers had suffered injuries due to rash driving on the road.
“We placed water-filled drums at the spot, but locals removed them,” he said.
