Maharashtra: Two minor siblings mowed down by van in Palghar; vehicle driver arrested

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A minor boy and his sister were mowed down by a speeding pickup van in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police officials told news agency PTI on Sunday.

The incident took place on Friday evening and the 27-year-old van driver was arrested from Dahanu area on Saturday, they said.

The seven-year-old boy and his sister aged 12, belonging to Modgaon-Khoripada in Dahanu, were walking on a road when the speeding van hit them, Palghar police spokesperson Sachin Navadkar told PTI.

The injured children were rushed to a hospital where doctors declared them brought dead, he said.

The van driver, who fled from the spot after the incident, was nabbed on Saturday, the police told PTI.

A case was registered against the driver under Indian Penal Code sections 304(A), (causes death by rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide), 279 (rash driving or riding), 337 and 338 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, they said.

Meanwhile, in another incident, two persons were killed when two buses of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) collided and then one of them hit an auto-rickshaw in Mumbai on Sunday, police officials told PTI.

The accident took place at 1.45 am on a slippery road near Aarey flyover on the Western Express Highway, they said.

Mumbai has been receiving rains since the past one week, making roads slippery.

An official from Vanrai police station told PTI that both the BEST buses were heading to Ghatkopar depot from Poisar depot when the driver of the vehicle moving ahead applied brakes.

The driver of the bus behind also applied brakes, but as the road was slippery due to rains, it skidded and collided with the bus in front and thereafter with an auto-rickshaw, the official told PTI.

Two passengers in the auto-rickshaw were severely injured, he said.

The police shifted the two passengers, Johny Sankharam (42) and Sujata Panchaki (38), to different hospitals where they were declared dead, the official said.

The auto-rickshaw driver also received a minor injury on his left cheek, he said.

"On the basis of primary information, we have arrested the driver of the bus (which was in front) and booked him under Indian Penal Code section 304-A (causing death by negligence). The incident happened due to the slippery road. We are doing further investigation into it," the official told PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)