Wrong judgement of driver: Maha DyCM Fadnavis on ex-MLC Mete's death in car accident

Mumbai: Days after former MLC Vinayak Mete died in a car crash on Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said it was an "utterly wrong judgement" of the vehicle's driver.

The 52-year-old veteran Maratha leader Vinayak Mete died in a car accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway early on August 14.

Police said Mete's driver rammed into a ten-wheeler truck ahead of him while trying to overtake it from the right.

Using the Green Corridor, where one lane of a highway is isolated for an emergency purpose, Mete was rushed to the MGM Hospital at Kamothe but was declared dead before admission.

The Rasayani police, in whose jurisdiction the accident happened, subsequently initiated inquiries with the driver, Eknath Kamble, to ascertain the sequence of events.

Kamble, however, had already given telephonic interviews to television news channels in which he claimed that he had tried to hail passing vehicles for help for an hour, but in vain.

Fadnavis was on Monday responding to a calling attention notice in the state Assembly by Congress legislator Varsha Gaikwad on Mete's death in the accident.

"The driver changed the lane and tried to overtake a heavy commercial vehicle in the middle lane from left side. There was already another heavy vehicle in the left lane and there was no space for overtaking it. It was an utterly wrong judgement of the driver," Fadnavis said.

"Thus, the accident impact was on Mete's side who was sitting behind in the car. The driver's side of the vehicle was not affected or damaged," the state home minister said.

(with inputs from PTI)