A day after 10 people were killed in an accident on the Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway near Nadiad after a Light Utility Vehicle (LUV) crashed into the rear of a stationary oil tanker, the Kheda police has begun a probe to ascertain if the vehicle had been used as a one-way pick-up cab or hired by a common agent as unrelated passengers were travelling to different locations.
The driver of the oil tanker has been arrested for negligence and culpable homicide not amounting to murder, while the deceased driver of the LUV has also been booked under the same sections.
Nadiad Rural Police Inspector Kirit Chaudhary told The Indian Express that the police is probing if the vehicle was regularly pressed into an inter-city shuttle service by the owner or was hired by a common person as the passengers were unrelated. “We are investigating the nature of the booking of this vehicle. Since all the passengers as well as the driver have been killed, we are yet to ascertain where the vehicle picked the passengers from. Most of them are believed to have boarded from Vadodara and were headed to Ahmedabad. We believe that some passengers were also headed to Deesa. We are trying to locate the owners to get more details,” Chaudhary said.
The FIR lodged at Nadiad rural police station against oil tanker driver Imityaz Ansari and LUV driver Surendra Singh Rawat states that their “negligence” led to the mishap that killed 10 persons — eight of whom died on the spot, including a five-year-old child. “Ansari, who was the tanker driver, parked his vehicle in the left lane of the Expressway without switching on the parking lights or putting up a reflector or a hazard indication that could be visible from a distance. Although Ansari has claimed that his vehicle had a technical breakdown, he did not attempt to contact the highway authority or any agency for emergency and help. Instead of being present in the rear of his tanker, the driver was sitting inside his cabin when the accident occurred,” the FIR states.
It added that Rawat had “attempted to overtake in the emergency lane” despite knowing the hazards of doing so. “Despite knowing that he would risk the life of the passengers seated in his vehicle, the LUV driver drove into the emergency lane at top speed to attempt overtaking other vehicles. He not only lost his life but also caused the death of nine other persons,” the FIR reads.
The police have ascertained the identity of eight of the nine passengers, who belonged to different cities and were said to be headed to Ahmedabad and some to Deesa in Banaskantha.
The deceased include Vadodara residents Neel Bhojwani and Jayshree Mistry, Amit Solanki of Valsad along with his wife Usha and son Daksh, Sahbuddin Ansari of Mumbai, Hitik Soni of Deesa, Yogesh Panchal of Ahmedabad as well as an unidentified male.
Meanwhile, a local court Thursday sent Ansari to judicial custody.
