Two people died and three others were injured in what is being suspected to be a case of drunk driving, after their car jumped the pavement and crashed into a tree in Dadar in the early hours of Friday morning. According to the Dadar police, the five victims had gone to a club in Lower Parel on Thursday night and were on their way home when the accident occurred. All the five are residents of the Andheri-Versova belt. 

Ravi Nanwatkar, 40, a flower seller who operates at the Dadar flower market and sometimes sleeps on the pavement on the Senapati Bapat Marg if he works too late, witnessed the entire incident. Nanwatkar told mid-day that he was sitting on the pavement and browsing through his phone when he heard a loud noise. “I looked up and saw the SUV hurtling towards me. I jumped out of its path in the nick of time, and it climbed on the pavement before crashing into a tree,” said Nanwatkar.

The Dadar police conducting inquiries at the scene of the accident

Nanwatkar and some others who were sleeping on the pavement rushed to help, while a patrolling unit with the Dadar police, which was doing its rounds on the same road, also sped to the spot. The eye witnesses volunteered their bedsheets so that the injured could be carried out of the mangled remains of the car and into the police vehicle. They were rushed to the KEM Hospital in Parel.

By 6 am, Sunil Dattwani, 29 and Satish Yadav, 31, had succumbed to their injuries, while Saad Sheikh, 37, Kevin Pillai, 38, and Sudarshan Zinjurte, 30, are still under treatment. The police said that Zinjurte, who was driving, is in a critical condition. “The SUV was at a speed of nearly 100 kmph when it hit the tree. No one was wearing a seatbelt apart from Zinjurte. We have submitted samples of their blood to check for alcohol content,” said an officer with the Dadar police.

Zinjurte has been booked under sections 279 (rash driving), 304A (causing death by negligence), 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code, along with section 184 (dangerous driving) of Motor Vehicle Act 1988.

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