On Saturday morning, around 2 am, two workers from the Cha Raja Ganpati Mandal in Mulund, Mumbai, were knocked down by a BMW car, and one of the men died while the other was critically injured. The accident was reported early in the morning at about 4 o’clock AM, which triggered a rapid intervention by the authorities on the ground.
Pritam Thorat and Prasad Patil were identified as the deceased by Mumbai Police, who said the victims were installing banners near Aakruti Tower in Gavanpada when the incident occurred. Witnesses said that the driver escaped the crash scene, while the good Samaritans took the affected persons to the adjacent hospital. Thorat died in the hospital from his injuries; however, Patil is still in critical condition and was being treated at the hospital when the interview was conducted.
The Mulund Police, without wasting time in the investigation, managed to nab the accused, Shakti Alagh, a resident of Mulund (West), in Navi Mumbai. Alagh said he was helping decorate a Ganesh Mandal for the festive occasion and was working until late Friday night before going to bed.
Newspapers inform the public that earlier, Alagh had been working in a call center and had bought a used BMW. A senior police inspector disclosed that Alagh frequently used the car that was involved in the accident. After he took it for servicing that very day, he took it for a test drive and, in a state of panic, left the wreckage of the car and fled on a motorcycle.
Alagh tested negative for alcohol influence, but preliminary medical tests showed that blood samples of Alagh had been taken and were awaiting results. His captors are supposed to ferry him to court on Sunday so that they can ask to be granted custody for further interrogations.
