Two young bikers killed on Freeway

SPEEDING TO DEATH: Though bikes are prohibited on the Freeway, the youths took the stretch illegally. While the rider and a friend were hurled on the Freeway (above), the other youth was thrown around 30ft down (top); the bike was found without any damage (inset)

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Two youngsters were killed and one was critically injured when a motorcyclist lost control of his bike on the Eastern Freeway and veered into the security wall of the elevated corridor on Sunday morning. In the impact, one of the pillion riders were flung into the air and thrown onto the road below, while the rider and the other youth fell on the flyover. 

    The incident took place around 3.30am near the Wadi Bunder turn on the Freeway. Incidentally, two-wheelers are not allowed on the Freeway.
 

    Raheem Agha (25), who was flung about 30ft down to the road, and rider Ramzan Shaikh (23) died on the spot, while their 16-year-old friend, Rajesh Achrekar, is being treated at St George Hospital. The Dongri police are waiting for the final autopsy report to establish if the boys were drunk.  

 

Pillion rider thrown 30ft down from Freeway

Mumbai: The bikers who were killed in an accident on the Eastern Freeway on Sunday were reportedly speeding and were on the elevated corridor illegally as twowheelers are banned on it.
 

    “Five boys from Pydhonie went to meet their friends in Chembur. Around 3am, on their way home, they took the Freeway though bikes are not allowed on it. Three boys were on one bike, while their two friends were on the other. They were speeding. As they approached the Wadi Bunder junction, Shaikh lost control at the sharp turn and rode into the 4-5 ft security wall,” said a police officer.
 

    Assistant sub-inspector Dilip Katkar who registered the complaint, said, “On reaching the spot, I saw a few people carrying the injured boy into an auto. We rushed him to St George Hospital. Later, I spoke to Aakash Sawant (19), one of the boys, who said all of them were returning from Chembur. He said Shaikh was speeding.”
 

    It was Sawant who narrated to Katkar how Agha’s body was thrown into the air and fell around 30ft below the Freeway. Rakesh Singh, a pavement dweller, told TOI, “I was asleep under the flyover when I heard a loud thud. Seeing people gathered on the road, I ran to the spot to find the bleeding body of a youth. The back of his head was crushed and his chest and stomach were torn apart.”
 

    Achrekar, who is at St George Hospital, has a severe head injury and a fractured skull. “He is in a semi-conscious state but he does not have a brain injury,” said Dr Jagdish Bhavani, medical superintendent at the hospital. “He has metal pieces lodged beneath the skin that will need surgery. His liver is damaged,” said Bhavani, adding the doctors were monitoring Achrekar’s condition in the ICU. Urging the police to deal with them, especially those riding on prohibited stretches like J J flyover and Freeway, strictly, activist Aftab Siddiqui said, “The police should become more active. If they can catch the bikers-—most of them do not wear helmets and don’t carry papers—at their own localities before they start performing stunts, the cops can put a stop to the deaths.” Inputs by V V Singh
 

ST bus crushes 2-year-old girl to death

    A two-year-old girl was crushed under the wheels of a state transport bus near her home at Bhaluka village in Murbad taluka in Thane district on Sunday afternoon. Riya Vishe, was playing outside her home around 2pm. She suddenly ran across the road and the bus driver, failing to spot her, mowed her down. The driver, Vinod Sitre, has been arrested. TNN

The Times of India, October 21, 2013