Vikhroli woman, who lost memory in road accident, awarded 90 lakh

Simi Panicker was en route to Pune airport when a tempo rammed into cab

Two years ago, a 43-year-old woman from Mumbai met with a road accident in Pune. She not only lost her father in the mishap, but also her memory. On Saturday, when the case came up before Pune's National Lok Adalat, she was awarded R90 lakh as insurance by the bank.

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Simi Sasidharan Panicker, 43, hails from Vikroli and is currently living in Nashik with her mother Shanta. Panicker's lawyer N D Washimbedkar had moved a petition in the Pune court of Motor Accident Claims Tribunal against tempo driver Mohammad Patel and ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited for R3 crore as compensation for medical expenditure, loss of income and earning capacity, and permanent disablement.

Panicker, who holds a masters degree in tourism, was working in the Human Resource department of a Pune-based five-star hotel, where she was drawing a monthly salary of Rs 88,000.

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On June 4, 2016, Panicker and her father were heading to Pune airport when a tempo driven by Patel rammed into their taxi. Her father and the cab driver died on the spot. She was rushed to the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune and was later shifted to Mumbai's Karuna Hospital, where she was in coma for five days. She was later diagnosed with memory loss and PTSD.

Panicker says it's her mother's unflinching support that has helped her overcome the trauma. "I consider this my second rebirth," she said. ICICI bank lawyer Rishikesh Ganu said, "We found that the tempo driver had hit the cab, and that the vehicle had insurance cover of the bank."

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