Despite mid-day red flag, cops do nothing, as manja kills biker

Bhiwandi cops at the site of the accident, on Balasaheb Thackeray flyover, on Sunday evening; (left) Sanjay Hazare, 49, the deceased. Representation pic/Anurag Ahire

An Ulhasnagar resident riding home from work lost his life after a kite string got entangled around his neck and slit his throat, in Bhiwandi on Sunday evening. Cops said the string was made of plastic, which is banned. Just ahead of Makar Sankranti, mid-day had implored the city cops to take inspiration from their Gujarat counterparts and take all measures to save birds and bikers. In Surat, cops closed all flyovers for bikers on January 14-15. However, not much was done in the metropolitan region to prevent such incidents.

The Bhiwandi city police said they have registered an FIR against an unknown person under IPC Section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

The kite that was stuck on the pole along the bridge; (right) Sanjay Hazare's bike at the accident spot

Sanjay Hazare, 49, was on the Balasaheb Thackeray flyover in Bhiwandi around 5 pm on Sunday when he got caught in the string and fell off the bike, dying on the spot, cops said. Officers said he was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Hazare worked at a private firm in Bhiwandi. The string was stuck in a pole along with a kite when it got entangled around his neck, said cops.

Senior Inspector Chetan Kakade of Bhiwandi City police station said, "We recovered a plastic manja from the spot. We found out that the kite with the string was stuck on a street pole, and when Hazare was crossing the bridge, the string got entangled around his neck. We have registered an FIR against an unknown person for selling plastic manja."

Also Read: Mumbai: Over 900 birds survive death by kite string

"In the past two days, we have also raided many places in the Bhiwandi City area and arrested sellers of banned plastic manja," Kakade added.

In Bhiwandi division, five FIRs have been registered for the sale of plastic and Chinese strings.

mid-day, in its January 13 report, highlighted a series of measures that the Gujarat police were taking to prevent deaths during the festival. In Surat city, the police banned two-wheeler riders on all bridges and flyovers on January 14-15 to prevent such fatalities.

The municipal corporation of Surat city also spent two days removing the strings that got entangled on the bridges and trees on main roads to ensure safety of the citizens as well as birds. However, neither the police nor the civic body took any initiatives in Mumbai or nearby municipalities.

In Mumbai, the BMC has only banned the sale and purchase of banned strings from January 12 to February 10.