Satara Highway Accident Mahabaleshwar Trip Maval Youths Killed Shirwal

“I had asked him not to go on the trip to Mahabaleshwar, but he didn’t listen,” said Dhirendra Thakur, father of 19-year-old Sonu Singh, one of the four friends from Pune district who were killed in a road accident on the Pune-Satara highway early Tuesday.

The four men, all residents of Maval taluka, were killed after the SUV in which they were travelling lost control, hit a divider and overturned before crashing into a truck on the Pune-Satara lane of National Highway-48 at Shirwal in Satara district around 1.10 am on Tuesday.

The deceased have been identified as Vedant Arjun Waringe, Sonu Singh Dhirendra Thakur and Aditya Balasaheb Garud, all 19, and Nikhil Balu Raut, 20. Dikshit Dayanand Pujari and Mayur Hanumant Shinde, both 20, were injured and are undergoing treatment at a hospital.

For Sonu’s family, the night began like any other trip. The group left Kamshet at around 9.30 pm on Monday. His family received a call about the accident at around 1.15 am and immediately rushed towards Shirwal.

“We reached the spot at around 3.30 am. We were asked to go directly to the hospital to identify the body. After the post-mortem, the body was handed over to us at around 7.30 am,” said Thakur.

“He was an expert mobile repairer. He had been running a shop at Takwe with his friend for the last six months. Recently, my eldest son got married. Sonu had told me that he would work hard for two years, get settled and then get married. Now everything has changed,” Thakur said.

Sonu’s close friend and business partner Rohan Chaudhary said the trip was initially planned to Matheran to celebrate the birthday of their friend Viraj Shelke. The group later changed the destination to Mahabaleshwar as it was already late in the evening.

“There were around 12 friends from Maval. We had planned to leave on Monday evening, spend Tuesday there and return on Wednesday. I decided not to go as Mahabaleshwar was far, and I could not shut the shop for two days. Sonu had not taken leave for the last one-and-a-half months, so he went,” Chaudhary said.

The friends even celebrated Shelke’s birthday by cutting a cake near Kanhe before setting off in two cars, he said. Chaudhary said the group was not expecting the trip to end in tragedy.

“Sonu and the other friends were simply going for a trip. Vedant’s parents had already shifted to their flat in Talegaon, and he had told them that he would join them after returning from Mahabaleshwar,” he said.

The SUV involved in the accident belonged to Vedant and his father had filled diesel worth Rs 2,000 for the trip, Chaudhary said. “Mayur Shinde was driving the SUV, while Dikshit Pujari was seated in the front passenger seat. Both survived the accident but were injured. The four passengers seated in the rear died in the crash,” he added.

Aditya Garud’s uncle Nilesh Garud said the 19-year-old was the only son in the family. He was travelling with his college and neighbourhood friends and was a student at VPS College in Lonavala. “He was the only son. We still do not know exactly what caused the accident,” he said.

Police are investigating the circumstances leading to the crash. Investigating officer Nitin Khamgal said, “Prima facie, the cause of the accident seems to be overspeeding, following which the car went out of control, hit a divider and overturned before crashing into a truck. The four passengers at the rear side lost their lives on the spot,” Khamgal said.

He added that there was so far no indication that the driver was under the influence of alcohol and that further investigation was underway.

Shubham Kurale is a journalist based in Pune and has studied journalism at the Ranade Institute. He primarily reports on transport and is interested in covering civic issues, sports, gig workers, environmental issues, and queer issues. X:@ShubhamKurale1 ... Read More

Sushant Kulkarni is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express in Pune with 12+ years of experience covering issues related to Crime, Defence, Internal Security and Courts. He has been associated with the Indian Express since July 2010. Sushant has extensively reported on law and order issues of Pune and surrounding area, Cyber crime, narcotics trade and terrorism. His coverage in the Defence beat includes operational aspects of the three services, the defence research and development and issues related to key defence establishments. He has covered several sensitive cases in the courts at Pune. Sushant is an avid photographer, plays harmonica and loves cooking. ... Read More