Mumbai: The family members of the couple who died in a crash on the Western Express Highway near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park on Wednesday have sought that an FIR be filed against those responsible for maintaining the stretch. The kin asserted that the couple’s bike slipped and the deceased fell while dodging potholes on the bridge and were run over by the dumper.
“We want an FIR to be registered against the authority responsible for maintaining the bridge and compensation for the next to kin,” said Tanveer Shaikh, younger brother of deceased Nazir Shah.
Shaikh said that the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is responsible for maintaining the flyover and repairing the potholes. However, due to the negligence on the part of their officials, the bridge is still riddled with potholes and causing crashes, he added. “Shah must have applied breaks suddenly while dogging the potholes, causing the bike to skid and slip,” said Shaikh.
The deceased couple stayed in Andheri east and worked for a television serial production house where Shah was in the creative department and his wife Chaaya Khillari (38) was a make-up artist. They were on their way to a shoot in Naigaon when the crash occurred on Wednesday afternoon.
Anil Ahwad, a senior police inspector of Kasturba Marg police station, said if the investigation reveals that Shah slipped due to potholes; they will book the MSRDC road contractor for failing to maintain the road in motorable condition.
Traffic police officers said that despite reminding the MSRDC thrice last month to repair the potholes on the bridge near National Park, they did not pay heed. “We have a WhatsApp group and also meet every week to remind the officials about the particular stretch warning them that it may cause deaths,” said a senior officer from trafic department.
The police officials said their preliminary investigation revealed that the couple on the motorcycle were overtaking the dumper from the left side and might have slipped either while dogging potholes or due to the slippery road before the dumper driver Salim Shaikh could respond. They were therefore crushed under the left front wheel of the vehicle.
“Five witnesses to the incident said they could not see what caused the couple to slip. However, it is less likely that the dumper driver crashed into them from behind,” said Somnath Gharge, deputy commissioner of police, Zone-12.
He added that the couple fell on their right side and the bike was found on the left side of the road. “Had the dumper crashed into the bike, the distance where the bike was found, would have been greater,” said Gharge. The police are also scanning the CCTV footage on the bridge to find out whether Shah was speeding and dogging potholes.
Meanwhile, the dumper driver was produced before a metropolitan magistrate court on Thursday and remanded to judicial custody.