Youths were driving from Lonavla to Pune and were crossing the Kamshet tunnel on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway early last morning, cops recover two packets of ganja from vehicle
Even as the police are investigating the deadly road mishap on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway that killed six college students in the early hours of Tuesday, they have revealed that two packets of ganja were found in the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, which crashed into a road divider.
Also read - mid-day exclusive: Five killed in Mumbai-Pune Expressway accident, cops blame speeding
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The mangled remains of the car in which the victims were travelling
After it dashed into the divider, the car turned turtle and ended up in a quarry.
All hailing from well-to-do families and studying in Pune, the six — identified from their college ID cards as Aditya Deepak Bandarkar (17), Abhishek Arun Roy (21), Yash Ajay Shiroli (18), Rajaram Dattatray Bhilare (20), Joekim John Samuel (19), and Umesh Girish Patil (24) — were travelling from Lonavla when the accident took place at 3.25 am near the Kamshet tunnel. Umesh was critical and rushed to Lokmanya Hospital in Nigdi, Pune, and kept in the ICU, but succumbed around 10 am.
Yash Shiroli was driving the car
A case for rash and negligent driving has been registered against Shiroli, who was also the owner of the car, with the Kamshet police station as it falls under the jurisdiction of Pune rural police.
18-yr-old at the wheel
IS Patil, inspector in-charge of Kamshet police station, said, “Based on the testimony of the eyewitness, Shiroli was driving the car. We have also found two packets of ganja in the car.
We are now waiting for the post-mortem examinatiion report to determine if any of the six were under its influence and if that might be the reason for the accident. They were reportedly driving rashly and overtaking from the wrong lane.”
He added, “Based on some other documents, it seems that they were in Panvel and also had a party in Lonavla. We are checking this line of investigation.”
Umesh’s uncle, Balashaheb Pawar, said, “Umesh hails from Sangli and was living in Pune for his education. Two of the others who died were his roommates. We are in shock. None of the children’s parents were aware of this trip. Umesh’s funeral will be conducted in Sangli.”
Vidhula Thakur-Desai, principal of Kasibai Navale’s Sinhagad College, said, “Joekim, Abhishek and Umesh are from our college and were pursuing BBA. Abhishek had failed in the first year, while the other two are our second-year students. We were shocked when we found out about the accident. On Wednesday, we have organised a condolence meeting. All cultural activities will be ceased for the next week.”
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