One youth killed, two others injured in mishap at Lonavala

NAVI MUMBAI/ PUNE: A 23-year-old student from ITM Business School in Kharghar was killed and two others injured, one of them severely, when the SUV they were traveling in rammed into a divider on the Mumbai-Pune Epressway early on Sunday. The impact of the crash was such that Vishnu Prabhu, the deceased, crashed through the windscreen of the vehicle and landed in a ditch 30 feet below the road.
The accident occurred near Lonavala while the three were driving back to their college hostel after a weekend picnic in Pune.
Prabhu is from Kochi; his friends Rameez Mirza Baig (22), from Jamshedpur, and Vaibhav Patil (24), from Nagpur, have been admitted to the Lokmanya hospital in Pune. Baig is critical while Patil has suffered minor injuries.
Sub-inspector N R Gaikwad of the Lonavla city police said the accident took place around 6 am. Police said Patil, who was at the wheel, seems to have lost control of the vehicle near Kevare village near the railway overbridge at the 57 kilometer mark on the Expressway. The SUV first hit a median near the railway overbridge, veered off and crashed into the railings. The vehicle flipped over at the force of the impact. Prabhu fell below the road and died instantly, said sub-inspector N R Gaikwad of the Lonavla city police Gaikwad. Patil and Baig were stuck inside the SUV which was completely wrecked.
The police have ruled out drunk driving. A case has been registered against the Patil for rash and negligent driving causing death under Section 304A, 279, 337, 338 of the IPC read with Motor Vehicle Act under Section 184.