Man who lost family in accident kills self

Mumbai: The taxi driver, who was driving the Santro car which was involved in a tragic accident on the Eastern Freeway last November, killing six of the nine people travelling, has committed suicide. The Wadala police have now registered a case of suicide and will be investigating if it was a case of abetment of suicide

Mangru Verma, the deceased, who was one of the three survivors, was believed to be suffering from depression after he lost his family in the accident. Even though he did not leave behind any suicide note, it is believed he was unable to put the tragedy behind him due to his sense of guilt. He was unemployed and living alone since the accident, according to the police.

The deceased who hung himself, had a case registered against him under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code for causing the accident as he was driving the car and was also chargesheeted. “We recorded the statements of all the survivors and of the accused. The chargesheet had been submitted and the case was awaiting trial. We will inform the court about the suicide soon,” said a source from Dongri police station.

According to sources from the Wadala police, Mangru (35) lost his wife - Anara (35) and two children — Asha and Rajkumar. His sister Rajshri, who was visting from Surat, also died along with her husband Harkesh and daughter Ragini. But her two sons — Vinay and Ravi, survived along with Verma.

An officer from the Wadala police station said neighbours discovered Verma’s body on Friday night.

“He stayed in the Deenbandhu chawl near Antop Hill and had been unemployed since the accident.”

Mangru had been a taxi driver for 17-18 years before the accident, which occurred on November 5, 2016. “He lost his only source of livelihood in the accident along with his family and sister. He was very upset and would remain locked in his room for days, according to the neighbours,” said the officer. He had been ostracised by his family, who blamed him for the accident.

The body was discovered after neighbours alerted the policemen that the door had been locked since evening. “We broke into the house and found him hanging from the ceiling fan. He left behind no suicide note,” said the officer.

• On November 5, 2016, nine people, including Mangru and his sister’s family set off to from Wadala to visit a temple in South Mumbai.
• All of them were packed in a Santro taxi owned by Mangru.
• At about 9.15 am, just half an hour after they left home, Mangru lost control of the vehicle and first rammed into a divider, and then collided with a pole.
• The small car was unable to handle the high speed and the over-crowding, leading to it spinning out of control.
• The deceased were identified as Harkesh Verma (45), Rajshri Verma (35), Anara Verma (35), Ragini Verma (20), Asha Verma (12) and Rajkumar Verma (8).
• Harkesh, who is Mangru’s brother-in-law, had come to Mumbai from Surat with his wife Rajshri and their three children — Ragini (20), Ravi (14) and Vinay (21), during the Diwali holidays.