Rogue driver knocked biker down night before he killed school kids

Driver Shivkumar Kandu, who ran over the children as they crossed the road on Monday morning. Pics/Hanif Patel

Hawari Alman Kadir and Aditya Prajapati would have been alive had the police acted against Shivkumar Kandu in time. The children were mowed down by Kandu, a truck driver, in Nalasopara East on Monday morning.

Turns out, the two weren't his first victims. He had knocked down a biker just the night before, but the police failed to take action against him.

While Hawari Alman Kadir (inset) died, Hawari's mother Afsana Begam Akhtar Hussain was injured. Another toddler died and two others were left injured

Around 12.30 am on Monday, Kandu (30) dashed into a biker in Nirman Nagar, Nalasopara, fracturing his arm. Three passers-by - MNS workers Aslam Khan and Rohan Nerulkar, and Harendra Pandey - were drawn to the accident spot, hearing the biker's cries.

Also Read: Kids crushed to death on their way to school at Nalasopara

Rohan Nerulkar (left) and Aslam Khan, who nabbed Kandu along with others and took him to Tulinj police station

Soon, a crowd gathered, most of whom were allegedly Kandu's friends. The driver resided nearby.

Apathetic police
Khan, MNS's city transport president, said they took the driver as well as the biker to Tulinj police station in Nalasopaora, but the police were apathetic. "Instead of taking the biker to a hospital, they waited for his brother's arrival. The police didn't move an inch to help the biker. When the brother arrived almost half an hour later, the constable, who was manning the station, asked him to take the biker to a hospital."

One of the two children Hawari Alman Kadir who was crushed to death by the truck driver in Nalasopara on Monday morning; (left) Rohan Nerulkar and Aslam Khan at the spot where the motorcyclist was knocked down on Sunday night

The biker's rescuers alleged that no complaint was filed in the case, and Kandu was left scot-free.

Rohan Nerulkar, an MNS shakha pramukh of Vasai, alleged that the driver was drunk at the time. "I could smell alcohol on him, but the police performed no test to confirm this. Had the policemen acted promptly, the two schoolchildren who were killed hours later would have been spared."

The truck that crushed the children on Monday

Rules flouted: Cops
Prakash Birajdar, senior PI, Tilunj police station, said the errant constable, Yuvraj Javade, had been questioned. "He said a case was not filed as the complainant did not return [from the hospital] to the police station."

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The inspector, however, pointed out that regardless of the victim's return, the constable should have at least made an entry in the station diary. "None of the rules was followed. This indicates some kind of malafide intention. We will probe this further."

The findings of the probe will offer little solace to the families of Kadir and Prajapati. It's clear that had the police initiated proceedings against Kandu, the horrifying accident around 10 am the same day in Nalasopara could have been easily averted.

Kandu's rash driving had left three persons who were crossing the road with the kids - Parjapati's uncle Satishkumar Yadav (25), Kadir's mother Afsana Begam (35) and Sandeep Vishwakarma - with grievous injuries.

The tragedy had provoked locals to go berserk. They roughed up Kandu and created a ruckus in the area. The police had to resort to a lathicharge to disperse them.