A 21-year-old man lost his life after a speeding Mercedes struck his scooter from behind in Thane during the early hours of Monday. The Naupada police are currently searching for the driver, identified as Abhijeet Sureshbabu Nair, who fled the scene following the incident. Nair faces charges under sections 106(2) (death caused by rash and negligent driving), 281 (rash driving), and 125(b) (causing grievous hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as well as relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.
The victim, Darshan Shashidhar Hegde, resided in Dnyaneshwar Nagar, Thane. According to police reports, Hegde had gone out to buy food around 1:50 a.m. on Monday, after observing a day-long fast for Sankashti Chaturthi. While returning home on his scooter from Thane railway station along the Mumbai-Nashik highway, he was struck by the speeding Mercedes from behind. Hegde was killed on impact and declared dead upon arrival at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa.
When Darshan did not return home after more than an hour, his brother, Shashank Hegde, attempted to contact him multiple times without success. Eventually, the Naupada police contacted Shashank to inform him of the tragic accident. A complaint was filed by Darshan’s employer, Dishit Jagdish Thakkar, who owned the TVS scooter that Darshan was riding at the time of the crash.
Darshan, a BSc student with aspirations to study engineering, was remembered fondly by his family. His childhood friend, Chandrakant Maime, expressed deep sorrow, saying, “Seeing him in the hospital was devastating. He was an excellent rider. Eyewitnesses reported that the car was speeding at the time of the collision. We demand the immediate arrest of the driver responsible.”