3 die as bike hits light pole at Aarey in Mumbai; leopard hit by rick

The spot of the bike accident at Aarey Colony. Pic/Satej Shinde

In an unfortunate incident, three people on a bike died at Aarey Milk Colony near Picnic Point after their bike hit a pole on early Saturday morning. In the last three days, four people have lost their lives on the same road in Aarey colony. The deceased were identified as Radhesham Ashok Dawande, 34, Vivek Lalman Rajbhar, 24, and Ritesh Shivaji Salve, 27. Jagdish Deshmukh, senior PI, Aarey Police Station, told mid-day, "They were driving on triple seats and collided with a light pole at the picnic spot near the metro car shed."

The senior PI also said, "All three were taken to a nearby hospital. Two of the three individuals were declared dead before arrival and the third individual passed away while being admitted. Postmortem procedures are going on. As of now, we cannot confirm whether it was a case of drunk driving." A local, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, "It's high time that the authorities take note of such accidents and install speed breakers. The two-wheeler riders drive at a very high speeds because there are no speed breakers here, which is why the accidents are taking place."

In a separate incident on Friday night, a leopard was hit by a rickshaw on Aarey Road but the animal disappeared in the forest. A source from Aarey, requesting not to be quoted, said, "On Friday night, a rickshaw accidentally hit a leopard that was crossing the road near Chhota Kashmir Lake. The rickshaw driver told us that he was driving slow, so the leopard ran away into the bushes," said the source.

Following the incident, the locals shared the information with the team of volunteers helping the Forest Department. The volunteers informed about the same to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park authorities and Thane Forest Department (Territorial). The teams from both departments searched the area with the help of flood lights, but could not locate the big cat.