Camera closest to site defunct: 3 IIT-Bombay students killed as car hits truck, flips on Mumbai-Pune expressway

NAVI MUMBAI: Three IIT-Bombay students, who made a quick visit to Lonavla to catch the sunrise, were killed on their way back after their car rear-ended a truck while allegedly trying to overtake it, flipped multiple times and hit the safety railing a little before Mumbai-Pune expressway's Panvel exit on Thursday.

The unidentified truck driver sped away. An FIR has been lodged against him for rash and negligent driving causing death. The car was completely crushed. Three other students had accompanied the victims in two separate cars.

Police prima facie ruled out drunk driving but were awaiting the autopsy reports. They said RTO officials had inspected the car and their report will help ascertain if the students had worn seatbelts or were speeding. Anand Kamble, inspector (crime), Panvel taluka police, said CCTV footage of the site had been sought from IRB Infrastructure, which operates and maintains the expressway, but it said the camera closest to the site was defunct.

Two of the victims were from Maharashtra—third-year aerospace engineering student Omkumar Borse (23) from Nashik and Lay Deshbhratar (20) from Nagpur, who was in third-year physics. The third, Shreyansh Sharma (22), hailed from Jaipur and was in the fourth year of mechanical engineering.

IIT-B students recalled Sharma as a popular student who had stood for the general secretary elections. His brother told TOI that he wanted to join IAS after completing his course. Borse bagged a state rank in Class 10 and the third rank in the state math scholarship exam, according to his social media profile.

Police said the three victims and three other students—Hitesh Meena, Soham Chavan and Siddhant Jebal—had stayed up all night watching movies till 4am and then decided to head for Lonavla in three cars to watch the sunrise. Borse, Sharma and Deshbhratar took one car, Chavan and Jebal another, and Meena the third.

Citing Meena's police statement, senior Panvel taluka police inspector Gajanan Ghadge said as the group neared the 10.7-km mark before the Panvel exit while returning, Borse, who was behind the wheel of the ill fated car, attempted to overtake a truck in the extreme left lane but lost control and rammed into it. All three students in the car sustained severe injuries after the car flipped multiple times and hit the safety railing. They were taken to a private hospital in Navi Mumbai, where they were declared brought dead.

Ghadge said CCTV footage can shed light on the exact cause of the crash. Kamble said the RTO officials' inspection report will help determine if the airbags had deployed.