Prashant Tripathi, who worked with several national news channels, died after being grievously injured when the rickshaw he was in jumped on a speed breaker and hit another vehicle
A senior journalist who had worked with several national news channels died in a road accident at Kurla in the early hours of yesterday morning. The incident happened around 12.30 am, when Prashant Tripathi, 40, on a visit in Mumbai, was on his way to Kurla from Bandra. The autorickshaw in which Tripathi was travelling rammed into a stationary autorickshaw, because the driver was allegedly speeding, grievously injuring the scribe, who was later declared dead. The police have arrested the driver, identified as Yasin Mukhtar Shaikh, 26.
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Prashant Tripathi
A relative of Tripathi, Rajkumar Tiwari, told mid-day, “He was working with a national news channel in Mumbai earlier, after which he had shifted to Lucknow.” Tripathi is survived by his wife, a professor at Allahabad University, and two daughters.
Out of control
Explaining the sequence of events, the police said the accident happened because Shaikh was speeding towards Kurla station and ended up losing control and dashing his vehicle into another, which had four passengers, that too was headed to Kurla from Bhabha Hospital.
Also read: Mumbai: One dead as speeding auto crashes at Kurla
The driver of the other autorickshaw, Naim Momin, 44, told mid-day, “After visiting Mahim Dargah with my wife and two children, I picked up my aunt from the hospital and headed home to Qureshi Nagar in Kurla West. When I reached New Mill Road, I saw an autorickshaw approaching at high speed. Deciding to let it pass, I parked my vehicle by the roadside. I don’t know what exactly happened... maybe the driver couldn’t control his vehicle because he was going too fast… He didn’t see the speed breaker ahead and his auto jumped nearly two feet in the air and rammed into my vehicle.”
In custody
While Momin’s family members were all safe inside, passers-by saw that the other autorickshaw was in a bad state and the passenger inside (Tripathi) seriously injured. They then called the police. Momin’s aunt told mid-day, “We hurried to rescue the driver and the passenger, but the former had fled from the spot.”
Senior inspector from Kurla police station, Lalasaheb Shetye, said, “We have arrested the accused driver, who caused the accident because of his speeding.” He has been booked under sections 304 (A) (causing death by negligence), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 279 (rash driving) of the Indian Penal Code and 134 A and B of the Motor Vehicles Act.
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