Three injured as Scorpio rams into truck

Mumbai: Three persons sustained serious injuries when a speeding Scorpio SUV, which was being driven in the wrong lane by its driver, rammed head-on into a truck near Nanamal Mehta Flyover early on Sunday.

The Scorpio’s driver, trader Parag Shirke (31) and 10 of his friends, all residents of Bhandup, were on way to Marine Drive seafront to celebrate the birthday of one the occupants when the incident occurred.

The police, which found sealed bottles of alcohol in the Scorpio, has sent Shirke’s blood for analysis to verify if he was driving in an inebriated state.   

The accident caused substantial damages to the two vehicles. The truck’s driver Mujnik Khan (25), who was on his way from Dongri to Thane for an assignment, suffered a fracture in one of his legs.

Shirke suffered a fracture in one of his hands while his friend Ashish Sawant (32) sustained head injuries. Khan, Shirke and Sawant are being treated in the civic-run Sion Hospital.

The police has booked Shirke under sections pertaining to rash driving. A senior official said the injured were immediately rushed to Sion Hospital after the accident.

According to a senior police officer of Matunga police station, the Scorpio collided with the truck while it was being driven on a wrong side. The Scorpio was occupied by its driver Shirke, Sawant, Ajay Jadhav (26), Ketan Rasam (23), Vijay Jadhav (29), Prathamesh Kadam (23), Ritik Kamlekar (17), Mangesh Sawant (37), Siddhesh Kadam (21), Megan Parep (25) and Harshat Jadhav (26). When Shirke saw the truck approaching them, instead of slowing down the vehicle, he allegedly sped up the car and collided with the truck, sources said.

N. Ambika, deputy commissioner of police, zone 4, said, “An offence is registered against the car driver and he has been booked for rash driving and relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act. The blood samples have been sent for analysis and we are awaiting the results to probe the case with the alcohol angle”.