Pune drink driving crash: Mercedes hits bike near Wadgaon Bridge, pillion rider dead
According to police, the occupants in the four-wheeler, including the driver, were in an inebriated state at the time of the accident
A speeding Mercedes car collided with a motorcycle on the Wadgaon Bridge stretch of the Pune–Bengaluru highway early Saturday morning leaving the pillion rider dead and the rider injured.
According to police, the occupants in the four-wheeler, including the driver, were in an inebriated state at the time of the accident.
The accident occurred around 4:30 am, police said, adding the four occupants - all postgraduate students of a computer science course at a prominent education institute in Pimpri-Chinchwad - in the Mercedes were returning home at Nigdi.
The accused have been identified as Shubham Rajendra Bhosale, 27 (driver), Vednat Indra Singh Rajput, 28, Shreyas Ramkrishna Solankhi, 25, and Nikhil Milind Ranawade, 26. All are residents of Aundh, Chinchwad, and Nigdi.
Two of them, Bhosale and Ranawade were initially arrested, while the other two—who were injured—were taken into custody after receiving medical treatment later in the day.
“Of the four occupants in the car, three had consumed alcohol at a party they organised at the restaurant in Hinjewadi. After consuming the alcohol, these car inmates went to Khed Shivapur on the drive. Later while returning home at Nigdi, the driver lost control over the wheel with his car rammed into the two-wheeler before hitting barricades,” said Sambhaji Kadam, deputy commissioner of police.
An FIR has been registered under Sections 105, 281, and 125 (a)(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Sections 119, 177, 184, and 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
A senior officer said a detailed investigation is underway to determine the sequence of events leading to the accident.
The deceased has been identified as Kunal Manoj Hushar, 23, a resident of Chinchwad. The injured rider, Prajyot Dipak Pujari, 21, also from Chinchwad, is undergoing treatment.
Hushar had completed his Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA), while Pujari is a second-year BCA student at a private college in Thergaon, Pimpri Chinchwad.
According to police, both were part of a group of 30 individuals from a Bhajani Mandal who had travelled to Shankar Maharaj Math in Bibwewadi for a devotional singing programme on Friday night.
After the event ended around 3 am, most members returned via the old Pune–Mumbai highway, while Hushar and Pujari took the Pune–Bengaluru highway.
Near Wadgaon Bridge, their motorcycle was hit from behind by a speeding Mercedes, flinging both men into the air due to the force of the impact. Hushar died on the spot.
Earlier on May 19, 2024, a juvenile allegedly driving a Porsche car at very high speed in an intoxicated state crashed into a bike, killing two software engineers – Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta – in Pune’s Kalyaninagar area.