Pune hit-and-run: Merc crushes biker to death, falls off highway bridge

Pune, May 3 (IANS) Amid dramatic scenes on the Bengaluru-Pune Highway, a speeding Mercedes car crushed a bike rider and then skidded off a bridge and fell 20 metres down before landing on a road below early on Saturday, said Pune Police.

Kunal Hushar, a resident of Chinchwad, was killed in the accident that took place near Vishal Hotel on Wadgaon Bridge around 4.30 a.m., said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Pune City, Sambhaji Kadam on Saturday afterenoon.

While the car was reduced to a chunk of mangled steel after the fall, the driver and his co-passenger survived with injuries, the police said.

The driver was booked under penal provisions dealing with culpable homicide, the police said.

An alcohol detection test, along with a medical examination, was conducted on to check if the car driver was drunk, the police said.

DCP Kadam said soon after the bike-car collision, Hushar and a person riding pillion on his bike were rushed to hospital but he died on way. The pillion rider is undergoing treatment.

The incident revived memories of last year’s case in which a speeding Porsche driven by a drunk son of a Pune builder crushed two techies riding a motorcycle.

The accident sparked an uproar in public and political circles, drawing in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who questioned preferential treatment to the offending driver.

While the driver’s father was arrested, along with the owner and managers of a Mundhwa hotel and pub, the minor boy was let off on bail by the Juvenile Justice Board which asked him to write a 300-word essay on the accident, serve with the Yerawada Traffic Police department for two weeks and undergo counselling and medical treatment to give up alcohol.

Following a nationwide uproar, the Pune Police, State Excise Department and Pune Municipal Corporation launched a massive clean-up operation of bars and pubs flouting rules and regulations in hotels or restaurants, with over four dozen establishments facing strict action.

--IANS

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