A 45-year-old customs officer lost his life and three others were injured in a car crash on the Sion-Panvel highway near Jui Nagar station on Sunday morning. The accident occurred when the car carrying the deceased, Narendra Rajendra Rai, rammed into a stationary tempo parked on the side of the road.
The car, which was carrying three customs officials returning home after a night shift at the airport, also struck a passing motorcycle after hitting the tempo. One of the injured, a fellow customs officer, is reported to be in critical condition. The accident took place around 9.30 am, just below the foorover bridge on the Sion-Panvel Highway.
The police have identified the tempo driver as 35-year-old Ghanshyam Ramfer Verma, who has been booked for illegally parking the vehicle on the busy highway without proper warning signs. The two injured officials have been named as Gaurav Vijayshankar Sinh, 45, and Abhinav Ramkumar Sinha, 40. The motorbike rider, Deepak Shambunath Gupta, 34, sustained minor injuries in the incident.
"The tempo was parked on a high-traffic highway without any warning signs, which led to the fatal collision," a senior Nerul police official stated. Verma has been detained, and further investigation is underway.