Hit-and-run case: Driver who fled after running minor over arrested in Punjab

Mumbai: Six days after a man ran away after hitting a 15-year-old pedestrian on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, the police have traced the accused truck driver in Punjab and arrested him on Saturday. The police tracked the driver identified as Surjit Singh, 59, after scanning through footage from over 60 CCTV cameras on the highway.

The incident occurred on April 16, when a 15-year-old was hit by an unknown vehicle on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway. The boy fell on the road and sustained severe head injuries. Passersby rushed him to the hospital for treatment, but he was declared dead on arrival. The unknown vehicle driver was declared absconding after the accident.

Following the death of the victim identified as Shivam Patil, the Pelhar police registered a case against the unknown driver under sections 304A (causing death due by negligence), 279 (rash driving on a public way), 337 (rash or dangerous act endangering human life) of the Indian Penal Code.

Jitendra Vankoti, senior police inspector of Pelhar police station, said they formed a team comprising officers from the crime branch and started searching for the absconding driver.

After scanning through CCTV cameras along the highway, they spotted a truck like the passersby described. Based on the description and number of that truck, the police started searching for the vehicle on the route it had taken, Vankoti said, adding that, it was revealed that the truck was from Punjab.

Assistant Police Inspector Sopan Patil of the Pelhar Crime branch said, “We have arrested the driver and will produce him before the court on Tuesday.”