Illegal joyride on Versova beach turns fatal, SUV runs over 2 sleeping men

MUMBAI: Two men, including a Nagpur-based choreographer and event organiser, were arrested on Tuesday after they ran over two men sleeping on Versova beach in the early hours of Monday, and fled when they found that one of the men had died.
The choreographer, Nikhil Jawade, 34, who was driving the car and his friend Shubham Dongare, 33, who was in the car with him when the accident happened, have since been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
According to Versova police, Jawade and another friend, a certain Prateek, drove from Nagpur to Mumbai in a grey Jeep Compass borrowed by Prateek from its owner whose identity is yet to be ascertained. Prateek wanted to meet a lady friend in Mumbai and persuaded Jawade, who knew how to drive, to come along. The two reached Mumbai on Sunday and went their separate ways. Jawade met up his old friend Dongare who works in a private company at Airoli. The two of them hung around Juhu for most of Sunday and where they also admitted to drinking. In the early hours of Monday morning, they decided to go for a joyride on Versova beach. Driving on any public beach is prohibited.
The same night Bablu Shrivastava, 36, who works as a delivery boy and his friend Ganesh Yadav, an auto driver, decided to sleep on the beach instead of their stifling kholis at Sagar Kutir Rahivasi Sangh close by. At around 5.45am Bablu was woken up by the sound of an oncoming vehicle and before he could respond the Jeep ran over his hand and ploughed into Ganesh who was sleeping on his right. “Bablu screamed for help and on of the residents came running, by this time they found Ganesh bleeding from his head. Jawade got down from the car but when he found Ganesh unresponsive, and a crowd gathering, he got back into the car and he and his friend Dongare fled from the spot,” said an officer from Versova police station. It was left to the residents of Sagar Kutir Rahivashi Saang including Ganesh’s younger brother, Bajrangi. To rush the two men to Cooper Hospital at Juhu were doctors declared Ganesh as brought dead.
Based on Bablu’s statement, the police launched a hunt for the grey Jeep Compass and found that the accused had taken the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) and had gone towards the Nashik Highway. “A few hours later we traced the vehicle near Igatpuri,” said the officer.
“We slept on the beach because the rains had stopped and it was hot in our shanties—it’s regular practise in this locality,” said Bablu Shrivastava. “The car came speeding from nowhere and skidded on the beach. While reversing, the vehicle brushed past my head and arm and then ran over Ganesh even as I watched. From the way the two men behaved when they got down, we suspect they were drunk,” he said.
The police have registered a case under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 125(a) (rash or negligent driving which endangers human life), 239 (intentional omission to give information of offence) and 281 (rash driving or riding on a public way) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 134A (protection of Good Samaritans) and 134B (duty of driver in case of accident and injury to a person) of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988.
The police added that they have not booked the third friend Prateek as he was not in the car. Jawade and Dongare have been remanded to police custody until Saturday. “We have also taken their blood samples to check for alcohol.” The police said they have booked the two men for culpable homicide not amounting to murder as they knew driving on the beach is prohibited ran over people despite seeing them sleeping on the beach from afar.