Hit-and-run in Nagpur: Drunk man on joyride with friends runs over 17 pedestrians, leaving 2 dead
PTC News Desk: Just before midnight on Sunday, a car carrying six friends—possibly intoxicated after drinking at a dhaba—drove onto the sidewalk where the women and a man from a Bagadiya tribe family in Rajasthan were sleeping. Twenty-five people were injured.
A certified fire engineer named Bhushan Lanjewar and his pals, Vansh Zade, Sanmay Patrikar, Atharva Vanayat, Atharva Mogre, and Hrushikesh Choubey, were taken into custody when it was suspected that they were driving a Hyundai Verna while intoxicated.
IPC Section 304 (II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and other sections were the charges brought against Lanjewar and his pals, who were all engineering students or graduates, police said on Monday. They spent two days in police custody while on remand, concluding in June 19.
Bhushan Lanjewar allegedly tried to flee by driving the car back and forth over the family that was sleeping. The horrifying event was described by Kavita Bagadiya, who lost her husband: "The car drove over us and reversed, crushing us again, before speeding away."
Kantibai Bagadiya, 42, and Sitaram Bagadiya, 30, were named as the deceased. Eight of the injured were released from the hospital following initial care, leaving seven in severe condition. Sitaram's spouse Kavita and their two daughters, Sakina, two, and Haseena, four, are among those hurt. Bhusya, age 10, Kavita, 32, Parsanbai, 22, Parbai, 18, Balku, 8, Golu, 16, and Hanuman, 32 are among the other family members who have been hurt.
Fortunately, a few of the thirty Bagadiya community members who were sleeping nearby managed to escape unharmed. In the vicinity of the toll plaza, two police officers were attempting to stop the fast car when they almost got ran over.
Witnesses claimed that the front left tire of the Hyundai Verna ruptured when the vehicle struck a parked Swift Dzire. Lanjewar lost control as a result, ending up on the family's sleeping footpath.
Lanjewar and his pals were inebriated, according to Wathoda police station senior inspector Vijay Dighe. All six of their blood samples have been forwarded to the local forensic science lab.
The youngsters were celebrating Zade's birthday, the police said, and they drank at a dhaba in Hudkeshwar before going for a joyride on the outskirts of Nagpur.
Inspector Dighe added that the vehicle's registration number and CCTV video were used to locate the driver. Police have seized the vehicle so that RTO specialists can examine it. Saurabh Kadukar, the owner of the car, hasn't been charged, though. "We asked for five days' police remand (for the arrested six), but the court granted us two days," Dighe stated.
- With inputs from agencies
