20-year-old girl dies after truck runs over her on Mumbai highway; driver flees

In a hit-and-run accident, a 20-year-old college student riding pillion on a scooter died after a speeding truck brushed against her scooter, causing her to fall and go under its rear wheel on the Western Express Highway in Goregaon (east) on Monday. The truck driver, who fled without helping the victim, was arrested later the same day.

The Vanrai police said the accident took place around 1.30pm on the south-bound stretch of the highway, near the Reliance Energy building.

The deceased, Ruchika Ramesh Jain, a resident of Borivli, was heading towards Jogeshwari to meet her uncle on the scooter with her cousin Avinash Jain, 22, who was driving.

A gas cylinder truck, whose driver was speeding and driving rashly, allegedly brushed against the scooter, causing Ruchika to lose her balance, fall and go under the rear wheel of the speeding vehicle. Though the truck driver realised what had happened, he did not stop and speeded away.

The 20-year-old was rushed to a trauma care hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

“We tracked down the driver and arrested him later in the night. We will producing him before a magistrate court on Tuesday,” said Jyotsna Rasam, senior police inspector of Vanrai police station. “He has been booked for rash and negligent driving causing death and for fleeing the spot without helping the victim or informing the police.”