MUMBAI: A 42-year-old man died after falling off his motorcycle on an allegedly uneven stretch of road in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and being run over by a BEST bus on Saturday night.
The deceased has been identified as Arun Tiwari, a resident of Santacruz East who ran a catering business. According to his elder brother, Umesh Keshari Prasad Tripathi, 46, Tiwari had stepped out around 9.15 pm to refuel his motorcycle at CST Road in Kalina. “He told me he was going to fill petrol and left home,” Tripathi said.
Around 9.30 pm, Tripathi received a call from Tiwari’s phone asking him to rush to Mumbai University’s main gate near the post office on the Kurla–Vakola stretch of CST Road in BKC, Bandra East. Shortly after, Tiwari himself spoke to him and said he had met with an accident.
Tiwari told his brother that a bus driver was driving at high speed and had hit his motorcycle, running over both his legs. When Tripathi reached the spot, he found a large crowd gathered there. Tiwari was lying beside a BEST bus, with his motorcycle lodged under its front portion. Both his legs had been crushed under the bus wheels.
Tiwari was initially rushed to VN Desai Hospital in Santacruz for primary treatment. As his condition was critical, doctors advised shifting him to another hospital. He was then taken to Lilavati Hospital, where he was admitted. However, he succumbed to his injuries during treatment on Sunday.
Based on Tripathi’s statement, the BKC police registered a case against the BEST bus driver under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for rash and negligent driving. The bus driver, Harish Narayankar, 40, a resident of Dharavi, has been arrested.
“We have arrested the BEST driver and are trying to find out the exact cause of the accident and whether there is any negligence on the part of the road contractor,” said Suresh Padvi, senior police inspector of BKC police station.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Congress leader Varsha Gaikwad blamed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for poor road maintenance. In a post on X, she alleged that uneven road surfaces were leading to loss of lives and also claimed that there was no blood available at VN Desai Hospital, which led to Tiwari being shifted to Lilavati Hospital and delayed his treatment.