An 80-year-old woman, Kamala Mudaliar, was tragically run over by a crane in Chembur on Tuesday morning while on her way to the Murugan temple, where she regularly performed cleaning duties. The incident occurred around 6:30 a.m. when Mudaliar left her home in Ghatkopar (East). When she hadn’t returned by 9 a.m., her son, Kumareshan, contacted the temple authorities, who informed him that she hadn’t arrived. Concerned, he filed a missing persons report at the Tilak Nagar police station.
The police later showed him a photo of a deceased woman, whom he identified as his mother. Investigators determined that Mudaliar had been run over, and the driver had fled the scene. Based on CCTV footage, the authorities tracked down the vehicle and identified the driver as Shailendra Kumar Shah, who had fled fearing mob retaliation. An FIR was initially filed against unknown persons.
Shah was issued a notice by the police but has not been arrested, as the charges against him carry a sentence of less than seven years. Senior Inspector Dattatray Patil from the Tilak Nagar police station confirmed the details.