Kolhapur ACB chief’s mother among two killed; officer, two others injured as SUV collides with truck at Chitradurga

KOLHAPUR: Kolhapur anti-corruption bureau (ACB) chief and deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Vaishnavi Patil’s mother, Kamal Haribhau Patil (69), and her driver Rakesh Arjun Aiwale (39) died on the spot while the officer herself and two others were seriously injured when their SUV collided with a truck near Tamatakallu village at Chitradurga taluka in Karnataka, about 410km from Kolhapur city along the Pune-Bengaluru national highway, between 4am and 4.30am on Sunday. Patil’s aunt, Kusum Pralhad Patil (57), and police constable Uday Dattatreya Patil (38), were the other two injured victims, who, along with the 45-year-old DySP, were admitted to a hospital in Chitradurga. The family was returning to Kolhapur from Rameshwaram after attending a marriage ceremony there. "The SUV belonging to the DySP hit the truck. The driver was driving the vehicle for straight 7-8 hours without taking a break and might have dozed off and lost control and hit the multi-axle vehicle.The DySP is out-of-danger. She is undergoing treatment at Basaveshwara Medical College and Hospital in Chitradurg along with other injured. She in shock at present. We will interact with her once she is normalised. We informed her relatives and they have reached to be with her," said Dinakar PK, the Chitradurga police DySP, who visited the spot and the hospital.Driver Aiwale hailed from Nippani village in Karnataka bordering Maharashtra while Patil’s mother and aunt are from Kaande village in Sangli district, police said.