Navi Mumbai, March 19: Three IIT Powai students were killed in a car accident on the Mumbai–Pune route in the early hours of Wednesday while returning from Lonavala after a late-night outing, police said.
Victims identified, complaint filed by friend
The deceased have been identified as Om Kumar Borse, a resident of Nashik; Shreyansh Sharma, a resident of Jaipur; and Laya Deshbhratar, a resident of Nagpur. The complaint in the case was filed by their friend and co-traveller, Hitesh Kumar Meena, a resident of Jaipur, who was travelling in another car behind them.
Group of students travelling in three cars
According to police, the victims were part of a group of six students travelling in three Volkswagen Polo cars. The others in the group included Hitesh Kumar Meena, a resident of Jaipur; Soham Chavan, a resident of Nashik; and Siddhant Jebal, a resident of Pune. All of them were third- and fourth-year students of IIT Powai.
The group had left the IIT Powai campus late at night, watched a movie, and later drove to Lonavala to visit a sunrise point before beginning their return journey in the early hours.
Accident details under investigation
The accident took place around 1.5 km ahead of the Bhatan tunnel. Senior Police Inspector Gajanan Ghadge of Panvel Taluka Police Station said that the complainant, who was travelling at a distance behind, observed that the car carrying the deceased was in lane 2 when the driver allegedly attempted to overtake a container truck moving in lane 3 from the service lane, resulting in a severe crash.
“The exact sequence of events will be established after a detailed investigation and examination of CCTV footage,” Ghadge said.
A case has been registered against an unidentified person based on the complaint, and further investigation is underway to ascertain the exact cause of the accident. "The condition of the vehicle was very bad and difficult to analyse what exactly would have happened," a police officer said.
Also Watch:
Recent accidents on Mumbai–Pune Expressway
In the last two days, six deaths have been reported on the expressway. On Wednesday morning, three persons were killed and five others injured after a container trailer caused a chain collision involving multiple vehicles on the Mumbai–Pune Expressway near Khopoli in Raigad district. The container later overturned onto an Innova car, crushing it and killing all three occupants on the spot.
To get details on exclusive and budget-friendly property deals in Mumbai & surrounding regions, do visit: https://budgetproperties.in/
