Gujarat road accidents killed at least 11 people across Bharuch, Gandhinagar and Banaskantha districts on Monday night and Tuesday, with police sub-inspector Yash Patel, a Gram Rakshak Dal jawan and three people returning from Navratri celebrations among the dead. Several crashes involved unidentified or abandoned vehicles, and investigations are under way.
In Bharuch, Patel, 27, and his friends Parth Patel, 27, of Mehsana, and Asfak Momin, 28, were killed when their car collided with a tempo on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway near Manubar village. The three were travelling to Bharuch to meet another friend, according to the report. Preliminary information indicated that their car first rammed into a tempo moving ahead of it. Another vehicle reportedly struck the car, causing it to overturn and suffer extensive damage.
The tempo driver allegedly abandoned the vehicle and fled. Taluka police sent the bodies for postmortem examinations and began an investigation into the sequence of the crash and the vehicles involved.
In Gandhinagar district, three people were killed and another was critically injured after a car carrying four youths overturned near Maharaja Hotel on SG Highway under Adalaj police station. The occupants were reportedly returning after playing garba through the night when the driver lost control. The car allegedly hit a divider before overturning and crashing into a tree.
The deceased were identified as Dhrolvirsinh Rana of Vastral in Ahmedabad, Aastha Rathod of Rajkot who was residing at Ambawadi Girls’ Hostel in Ahmedabad, and Vaishvi Sheth of Bodakdev. Rathod was pursuing the final year of her MBBS course at a medical college in Ahmedabad. Sheth succumbed to her injuries while undergoing treatment at a hospital near Vaishnodevi Circle. The fourth occupant, identified only as Smit, was admitted to Jivraj Mehta Hospital in critical condition. Adalaj police launched an investigation.
In Banaskantha, an unidentified vehicle rammed an autorickshaw near Badarpura crossroads on the Palanpur-Deesa highway, killing driver Shravan Majira, 24, and passengers Chehara Malupura, 66, and his wife, Lasu, 62. The couple were residents of Sandia village, while Majira lived in Sotamla village in Deesa taluka. Police said the couple was returning to Deesa after Chehara underwent dialysis at Palanpur Civil Hospital.
“The couple was returning to Deesa after Chehara underwent dialysis at Palanpur Civil Hospital,” said KM Vasava, sub-inspector at Gadh police station. The unidentified vehicle driver fled the scene, and police began a search.
In another Banaskantha crash, two friends were killed when an unidentified vehicle hit their motorcycle near a cement factory on the Amirgadh-Abu Road highway late on Monday. The victims were identified as Govind Chauhan, 30, a Gram Rakshak Dal jawan from Dholiya village, and Pavan Kharadi, 23, from Ambapani village. Both were residents of Amirgadh taluka.
“We have launched an investigation to identify the vehicle and its driver,” said BD Gohil, inspector at Amirgadh police station. The investigations in the separate cases will determine the circumstances of each collision and help identify the drivers who fled the Banaskantha and Bharuch crash sites.
