New bike party proves fatal for 4

Pune: Four persons died and two suffered serious injuries after the taxi they hired for celebrating the purchase of a new bike by one of them tipped over near Shirwal on the Pune-Bangalore highway late on Wednesday night.

Five youngsters were on their way back to Bhor after the celebrations in the taxi. The deceased are Prashant Raut (25), Mangesh Bane (19), Dastagir Naknegal (28) and Atul Barkade (30) - all from Bhor taluka. Their friend, Amit Pawar (19), and taxi driver Hanmant Nigde (28), also from Bhor, are being treated in a hospital near Shirwal.

Inspector Sambhaji Mhetre, the in-charge of the Shirwal police station, said Raut, Bane, Naknegal, Barkade and Pawar were friends. They lived in different villages in Bhor taluka.

"One of them had recently purchased a motorcycle. On Wednesday they had decided to party to celebrate the occasion. Around 8.30pm, they met at a petrol pump near Shirwal. They parked the new motorcycle there and took a taxi to go to Shirwal. The accident occurred when they were returning home from the party around midnight," Mhetre said.

The speeding driver lost control over the steering and crashed the vehicle into the road median. The vehicle moved straight over the median for some distance before it flipped and fell into a gutter between the service road and the highway.

Raut, Bane, Naknegal and Bakade died on the spot. The Shirwal police and the people of the area rushed the injured to a nearby hospital. "Primary probe shows the accident happened due to speeding. The driver's condition is critical. We are questioning Pawar," Mhetre said.