Road accident near Navale bridge again; truck hits six vehicles, motorcyclist dead

A speeding truck collided with six vehicles, causing the death of a motorcyclist, at the traffic signal junction near Navale bridge on the Mumbai – Bengaluru highway, in the Narhe area on Friday morning.

Police have identified the deceased as Ashpak Hanif Chowdhary (36), resident of Ashraf Nagar in Kondhwa.

Police said a truck coming from Katraj lost its course and rammed six vehicles one after the other, at the traffic signal near Navale bridge around 6.30 am.

During the incident, the truck ran over the motorcyclist, causing his death on the spot.

After receiving information, a team of Narhe police station and the traffic cops rushed to the spot.

“The deceased Ashpak Chowdhary worked as a driver for a private vehicle.

He was going to his workplace, but lost his life in the road accident.

We have detained the truck driver.

Further investigation is on,” said senior police inspector Asaram Shete of the Narhe police station.

Police have identified the truck driver as Shankar Gopalrao Medebane (33) of Bidar in Karnataka.

Police said the accused driver had fled from the spot after the mishap, but was later nabbed and booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 106 (1) (causing death by negligence), 281 (rash driving), 324 and sections 184,134 (a)(b), 119/177 of the Motor Vehicle Act.

Altaf Bhelme, a family member of the deceased, lodged the first information report (FIR) in this case.

The incident had caused a traffic jam in the Navale bridge area for a significant duration.

Police said that vehicles damaged in the incident were cleared from the road to restore normal traffic conditions.

Navale Bridge in the Narhe area ofPuneand an adjacent location known as Selfie Point are “black spots” on the list of the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) launched by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India.

According to norms, a stretch of 500 metres of a road, on which five or more accidents with fatalities or grievous injuries have taken place in three years, is referred to as a “black spot”.

Multiple accidents have been reported in the Navale Bridge area over the last few years.

Last year, on the evening of November 13, eight persons had died and 13 were left injured, when an overloaded truck going from Satara toMumbaivia Katraj Dehu Road Bypass, lost control on the Navale Bridge slope, hitting multiple vehicles.