SHIV Sangram Party leader and former member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council Vinayak Mete was killed after a vehicle hit his car on Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Sunday morning, officials said.

He was 52. Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said the driver of Mete’s SUV may have dozed off leading to the accident while Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant sought a probe questioning why Mete was called to attend a meeting (on Maratha quota) to Mumbai on short notice.

Mete, who remained at the forefront of the agitations in the past to demand reservations for the Maratha community, was coming to Mumbai from Beed to attend a meeting on the quota issue when his SUV met with the accident shortly after 5 AM. The accident took place at 5.05 am near Madap tunnel under the jurisdiction of Rasayani police station in the neighbouring Raigad district, the officials said.

Mete, another person, and his driver, were in the car while they were on their way to Mumbai from Beed. A vehicle hit their car near the tunnel and all of them received serious injuries, an official said.

They were rushed to a private hospital in Navi Mumbai Mete was declared dead, he said.

Meanwhile, Police investigating the death of Shiv Sangram Party leader Vinayak Mete in a road accident on Sunday prima facie concluded the driver of his car lost control of the vehicle which hit a truck from behind on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The accident occurred at 5.05 am near Madap tunnel under the jurisdiction of Rasayani police station in the neighbouring Raigad district when Mete was coming to Mumbai from Beed, officials had said.

Mete’s SUV was in a second lane of the six-lane expressway at the time of the accident, an official said.

As per the preliminary investigation, the car driver, Eknath Kadam, lost his control at wheel and the vehicle hit a truck from behind in which Mete was seriously injured, he said.