SIX KILLED SUV, truck collide near Katol

Special Correspondent

A PALL of gloom descended on Mendhepathar in Katol taluka after six villagers were killed and one other injured seriously when the speeding Toyota Qualis SUV they were travelling in collided head-on with a truck on the road stretch between Sonkhamb and Tarabodi villages, about 45 kilometre from Nagpur, in the small hours of Saturday. Identified as Ajay Dashrath Chikhle (45), Vitthal Digambar Thote (45), Sudhakar Ramchandra Mankar (42), Ramesh Omkar Helonde (48), Mayur Moreshwar Ingle (26), and Vaibhav Sahebrao Chikhle (32), the deceased were the residents of Mendhepathar. Ajay and Vaibhav were cousins. Jagdish Dattuji Dhone (40), also a native of village Mendhepathar, who was critically injured, is battling for his life at the Trauma Centre of Government Medical College & Hospital Nagpur.

Around 12.30 am, they were returning to their village on Katol Road in a Toyota Qualis SUV (MH-31/BW-1111) after attending the marriage of former Zilla Parishad Vice-President Chandrashekhar Chikhle’s daughter Pallavi at Nagpur. The SUV was being driven at a high speed. A rashly-driven truck (MH-40/AK-3817) was coming from the opposite direction. The SUV driver lost control of his speeding vehicle and collided head-on with the truck. The impact of the collision was so severe that the SUV was reduced to a heap of mangled metal. Three of the occupants in the SUV were killed instantaneously. Soon after receiving the information about the mishap, staff from Katol Police Station rushed to the spot.

Cops extricated the four other occupants from the SUV and rushed them to Government Medical College & Hospital with the assistance of the passers-by but on the way, three of them succumbed to their injuries. Police sent all the six bodies to the mortuary. An eerie calm prevailed when the bodies were handed over to the family members and relatives of the victims after the post-mortem in the afternoon. Special Inspector General (Nagpur Range) Chhering Dorje, Superintendent of Police (Nagpur Rural) Harssh Poddar, SDPO (Katol) Bapu Roham, PI (Katol) Nishikant Meshram, PSI Parmeshwar Aagashe and others also visited the accident spot to supervise the probe. When contacted, Katol Police told ‘The Hitavada’ that they arrested truck driver Kadir Tayyab Shaikh (42), a resident of Hasanbag, Nagpur, by registering a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicle Act against him. After the last rites of the six deceased villagers, a joint condolence meeting was held at Mendhepathar under the presidentship of legislator and former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and rich tributes were paid to the deceased. Further investigations are underway.