In a shocking incident early Monday morning, a 36-year-old rickshaw driver sleeping on Versova Beach was run over by a car. A case of culpable homicide has been registered against two people, including the motorist, who fled after the accident. Both have been arrested, and their blood samples have been sent to a laboratory for testing.
The deceased rickshaw driver was identified as Ganesh Yadav, who resided at Sagar Kutir Prasha Sangh in Versova. On Sunday night, Ganesh and his friend Bablu Srivastava went to sleep on Versova Beach because it was too hot in their homes. Around 5 a.m. on Monday morning, a white SUV with the registration number MH-32-FE-3033 drove over Ganesh, who was sleeping on the beach. The sound of Ganesh being crushed was loud enough to wake Bablu, who was sleeping nearby. Bablu was terrified when he saw the scene. Two people got out of the car and tried to wake Ganesh, but he did not respond. The men then fled the scene with the car.
As soon as the Versova police were informed of the incident, they reached the scene and took the injured Ganesh to Cooper Hospital for treatment. The Versova police have registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 125(A) (endangering life), 239 (intentional omission by a person bound to inform), and 281 (rashness).
The Versova police have arrested the SUV driver, Nikhil Jawale (34), a director of a cab service, and his friend, Shubham Dongre (33), a resident of Airoli and a partner in the cab business, from Nagpur. The accused were presented in Andheri Court on Tuesday, where the court remanded them to five days of police custody.
A senior police officer stated that the driver and his friend were arrested within hours of committing the crime. Initially, they did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol. However, their blood samples were collected to test whether they were intoxicated at the time of the incident.
Ganesh Yadav’s friend, Bablu Srivastava, narrowly escaped the incident and is in mental shock. Although vehicles are not allowed on the beach, the car entered through a narrow path passing by shanties and crushed a person sleeping on the beach. Local witnesses suspect that the accused were intoxicated.
A local resident took a picture of the vehicle’s number plate on their mobile phone, which helped the Versova police trace the men within three hours of the incident. Jawale and Dongre had rented the car from Satish for their cab business. An officer mentioned that the incident occurred when Jawale and Dongre came to Mumbai after dropping off a customer and entered the beach, where vehicles are prohibited.