Hit-and-run: SUV fatally knocks down auto-rickshaw driver on Versova beach, injures his friend in Mumbai

An official said that auto-rickshaw driver Ganesh Yadav and his friend Bablu Shrivastava were sleeping at the beach as they felt hot in their room located nearby in the Sagar Kutir Rahivasi Sangh slum area.

Mumbai: In yet another hit-and-run case in Maharashtra, an auto-rickshaw driver was killed and his friend injured when an SUV ran over them while they were sleeping at the Versova beach in Mumbai, police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place in the early hours of Monday following which the sports utility vehicle (SUV) driver fled from the spot without providing any help to the victims, they said.

The SUV driver and another occupant of the vehicle have been arrested.

Auto-rickshaw driver Ganesh Yadav and his friend Bablu Shrivastava were sleeping at the beach as they felt hot in their room located nearby in the Sagar Kutir Rahivasi Sangh slum area, an official from Versova police station said.

Shrivastava was awakened by a blunt impact on his head and hand, after which he saw a car running over Yadav, who was asleep next to him on a mat. Later, Shrivastava became unconscious, he said.

The SUV driver, Nikhil Jawle (34), and his friend Shubham Dongre (33), who was also in the vehicle, fled from the spot without providing medical help to the victims, the official said.

A local resident had noted the number of the SUV while it was entering the beachside from a narrow lane.

With this information, the police came to know the car was registered in the name of Satish S in Nagpur, the official said.

Within three hours of the incident, the two SUV occupants were nabbed from Igatpuri in neighbouring Nashik district, he said.

During the probe, the police found the SUV driver was a resident of Nagpur and his friend hailed from Navi Mumbai.

They reached Mumbai to meet Yadav's friend in Versova to extend good wishes to the latter for his cousin's wedding. They had brought the SUV from Nagpur and reached here after taking a halt at Lonavala in neighbouring Pune district, the official said.

The police have collected blood samples of the SUV driver and his friend and sent them for forensic testing to find out if they were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, he said.

An FIR has been registered against the duo under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, the official said.

They were on Tuesday produced before a local court which sent them to five-day police custody, he said.

"We are conducting further probe into the case," the official added.

A spate of hit-and-run cases have been recently reported in the state.

On July 7, a woman was killed in Mumbai’s Worli area after a BMW car hit a two-wheeler on which she was travelling and dragged her for 1.5 km, police earlier said.

Three persons, including the son of a Shiv Sena politician, were arrested in connection with the incident, according to police.

The same night, a policeman was killed when a car rammed into the motorbike of two cops on patrolling duty in Pune's Khadki area.

In another hit-and-run incident on July 7, a 23-year-old man was killed after an unidentified vehicle knocked him down in Nagpur city.

On July 9, a 31-year-old woman was killed after a speeding car knocked her down in Nashik city. The car driver, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, fled from the spot. He was later arrested.

On February 25, a woman drove her Mercedes car recklessly allegedly under the influence of alcohol and crashed into two men travelling on a scooter on Ram Jhula bridge in Nagpur city. Both riders died after the crash.

The woman surrendered before police on July 1, more than four months after the crash, and was subsequently placed under arrest. On July 2, a court ordered her release, terming her arrest in the case unlawful.