The dead person was the off-duty driver of the same bus, Rajesh Gawade (35), while the injured persons were the passengers of the bus.Gawade was a resident of Miraj, Sangli. The second bus driver, Shirish Dekade (43) who was behind the wheel, has been accused of rash and negligent driving, leading to this fatal accident.
The bus with 35 passengers was going from Mumbai to Kolhapur. At around 2am, Dekade tried to overtake another vehicle, but it led to the vehicle going out of control and dashing the rear end of the container vehicle which was in front of the bus.
The injured were rushed to MGM Hospital at Kamothe and Lokmanya Tilak Hospital in Pune. The traffic was shut for an hour. The sleeping passengers got up immediately after the mishap but those injured and stuck inside the bus were rescued by the Khopoli police, highway safety patrol, IRB, Delta force, Maharashtra Suraksha Bal and Samaritans group ‘Apghat Grast Madati Sathi’. Some of the injured were admitted to the hospital. One of the passengers from Kolhapur, Vikrant Bhosale alleged, “My younger brother Rohit (45) sustained injuries in his left rib. However, we have to pay Rs 12,000 to the MGM hospital-Kamothe to get his discharge whereas no benefit was extended under the state government accidental scheme. We were returning to Kolhapur after attending an exhibition in Mumbai.” Kutch (Gujarat) resident Deep Mehta said, “My wife Sneha (37) sustained injuries in her back while my two daughters escaped narrowly.,” The accused driver Dekade has been booked for causing death by negligent and rash driving besides other sections of IPC and the Motor Vehicle Act.