Mumbai : A police constable attached to the Antop Hill Police station died when a multi-axle trailer rammed into him in the early hours of Thursday.
The victim, identified as constable Sanjiv Tukaram Patil, 52, was out for his morning walk when the truck hit him and crushed him under its front wheels.
“Patil was a resident of Ganesh Nagar in the Wadala (E) area and it was his daily routine to take a long morning walk. He was doing the same on Thursday morning and had left his house a while ago when the accident occurred,” said an officer of Antop Hill police station.
Patil is survived by his wife, daughter and a son. While his son is studying to be an engineer, his daughter is said to be working in an MNC.
The incident occurred around 8 am near SP Road in Wadala, when a 10-wheeled trailer hit the police constable and then banged into seven other parked vehicles.
The vehicle had left the IMAX Wadala area and was moving towards Barkat Ali junction and was supposed to halt near BPT. The driver, identified as Gajendrakumar Sukhdev, 44, a resident of Jharkhand, allegedly slept at the wheel for a few minutes and then lost control of the vehicle.
The trailer, after hitting Patil, swerved and hit seven other cars parked in the area. “Since it was early morning, all the cars were empty and hence a huge disaster was averted. Some of the cars belonged to taxi drivers and all of them park their cars near SP Road for the night and go home. Also, there was less vehicular movement on the road,” said a senior police officer.
After investigation, it was found that the driver was not in an inebriated state and lost control of the vehicle due to lack of sleep. He was arrested and booked under section 279, 338 and 304 (a) of the Indian Penal Code.
