Three dead, three injured as car with drunk driver rams into other vehicles

Thane: Three persons died and three were injured in a road accident in Ulhasnagar, Thane district on Monday, a police official said. At 5.30 am, a car driven by a 22-year-old drunk man dashed into autorickshaws and two-wheelers under Central police station limits.

After the accident, the driver fled the spot but the police traced and arrested him later.

The officers said the deceased were identified as Somudeep Jana, 24, Anjali Jana, 54, and Shambhuram Chavan, 53. They all died on the spot. The driver of the car has been identified as Lawesh Kewalramani, who was drunk and drove the car while returning from Kalyan toward Ulhasnagar when the accident occurred. The injured have been identified as Pramod Dond, 37, Mahendra Pandhare, 38, and Javed Jaffar Sayyed, 25 and all were taken to Central Hospital in Ulhasnagar where three of them were declared dead before arrival and the others were hospitalised for further treatment.

Police sources said that Kewalramani attended a marriage function in Kalyan and was returning home in Ulhasnagar late at night in his car when the accident took place. The police said he was under the influence of alcohol and hit two auto-rickshaws driven by Javed Jafar Sayyed and Chavan. Sayyed had picked up Anjali and Somudeep Jana, who arrived from West Bengal, at Kalyan station and he was dropping them to Ulhasnagar when the accident took place. Chavan dropped a daily passenger at the Kalyan vegetable market and then went to Ambernath after receiving a call from the passenger. He also suffered severe injuries and died at the hospital.

Lawesh Kewalramani was booked under sections 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337(Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) 279 (rash and negligent driving) 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 427 (Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of Indian Penal Code and 184 and 185 of Motor Vehicle Act.

Vijay Waghmare, senior police inspector, Central police station said, “The accused Lawesh Kewalramani, was driving an MG Hector car. During the investigation, we learned that Kewalramani intentionally drove the car rashly on a public road and endangered the life and safety of others. Preliminary inquiry found that he was under the influence of alcohol. We have sent the blood sample of the accused to Kalina forensic laboratory in Mumbai and will wait for their report.”