Bike hit-and-run claims man’s life

At a time when the Andheri police is struggling to detect the fatal hit-and-run accident of a pedestrian, a Gujarati businessman, another such accident in which a 42-year-old pedestrian lost his life occurred on Thursday evening in its jurisdiction.

According to the Andheri police, the second hit-and-run accident occurred around 7.40 pm on the Sahar Road in Sambhaji Nagar area of Andheri (east).

The deceased, identified as Rakesh Gangaram Nirmal, was crossing the road when he was knocked down by an unknown speeding vehicle. Nirmal, who used to iron clothes for a living, suffered grievous head injuries. The driver of the vehicle sped away without rendering help to Nirmal who was alive, the police said. Onlookers saw Nirmal in a semi-unconscious state and alerted the police control room. Nirmal was taken to Cooper Hospital where he was declared dead on admission.

Nirmal’s family is in UP. He stayed alone here. On-duty police inspector Pradeep Khanvilkar of Andheri police on Friday said, “We spoke to eyewitness on the spot. They have informed us that the accused was driving a motorbike and ran off soon after knocking the man down. We are checking if there are any CCTV cameras in the vicinity. We are trying to trace the accused with the few leads we have with us.” A first information report

has been registered under Section 279 (rash driving in public place), 304 A (causing death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code and 134 A and B of the Motor Vehicle Act which deal with fleeing the spot without rendering help to the victim and not informing and helping the police.

On the other hand, the investigations into the first fatal hit-and-run that took place five days earlier have gone cold. The 37-year-old deceased Gurmeet Singh Indrajeet Singh Kalsi, a businessman from Rajkot, Gujarat,was knocked down by a speeding taxi early on Sunday while he was crossing the road on the Western Express Highway.

Earlier this week, in a bid to curb fatal accidents in the city, the Mumbai traffic police had undertaken an ambitious project to carry out in-depth analysis of every fatal accident that occurs in Mumbai. After classifying and recording the causes of these accidents, appropriate measures will be taken.

Though fatal accidents have declined from 433 last year to 375 this year till September, the statistics state that more than one person is killed every day in road mishaps in the city.