Passers-by take videos, photos as 22-year-old lies dying on the road

Video grab of Laxman Rajpurohit lying unconscious and bleeding on the road

A 22-year-old Vasai resident lost his life after passers-by stood shooting videos and photos of him lying on the road for two hours instead of taking him to hospital following a bike accident on Wednesday night. What's more, the pillion rider, who escaped unscathed, ran away soon after the accident.

The accident occurred at Sativali, Vasai East, when Anand Nagar resident Laxman Rajprohit and his childhood friend Sailesh Gupta, 23, were riding home. The bike skidded and they fell on the road. While Rajprohit sustained serious injuries, Gupta, who was not badly injured, ran away instead of helping his friend.

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A crowd soon gathered at the spot of the accident, but they got busy with filming Rajpurohit lying bleeding on the ground instead of helping him. He had been lying like that for over an-hour-and-a-half when it started to rain and the splash of water on his face jolted him into consciousness. He was then filmed begging people to help him or call his family, but no one moved to help. Finally, an elderly man came forward, picked him up and brought him to the hospital, but it was too late. Rajpurohit was declared dead before admission, said a police officer.

Laxman Rajpurohit. Pics/Hanif Patel

Rup Singh Rajpurohit, a relative of the deceased, said Rajpurohit would have been alive today if he had been rushed to the hospital on time by people who were too busy recording videos. Another relative has called it a murder, and has accused Gupta because he escaped from the spot and did not even bother to inform Rajpurohit's family. He said he wanted a police inquiry.

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Gupta's brother-in-law, Magraj Asari, told mid-day, "The family's allegations are baseless and false. We have a WhatsApp chat between Rajpurohit and Gupta where he had asked Gupta for help as he was drunk."

He said while they were returning, a motorist crashed into them and left them on the road. Gupta got scared on seeing Rajpurohit injured and ran from the spot. Asari said if Gupta had told them about the accident, they would have gone to the spot to help him.

Rajpurohit was a final year student, while Gupta works with Swiggy; they were both childhood friends. "We have registered case under section 304(A), 279 and 338 against unknown person and began the investigation," said Assistant Police Inspector Sudhir Dhayarkar from Waliv police station.

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He added, "As we were preparing to send the body for an autopsy to the local government hospital, the family and relatives alleged murder, so we have sent the body to JJ hospital for the autopsy. If anything untoward is revealed, we will act as per the law."

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