Two people, including a deputy commissioner in the Goods and Services Tax Department, died and two others suffered injuries after an SUV rammed into a truck on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway near Lonavala on Tuesday.
The deceased have been identified as Abhijeet Ghavale (45), the deputy commissioner, and his brother-in-law Shankar Itnal (45), residents of Vashi. The injured are Ghavale’s wife Shilpa and the SUV driver, Pandit Pawar, who have been admitted to a hospital in Pavana.
According to an officer from Kamshet police station in Pune (Rural), Ghavale, his wife, and Itnal were travelling in the SUV from Navi Mumbai to their home town in Latur for a family function. The accident occurred around 7.30 a.m. near Kamshet tunnel number two on the expressway.
The police took all the passengers to the hospital where Ghavale and Itnal were declared brought-dead.
“We have registered a report of accident. We are checking CCTV footage and verifying the claim of the driver that the front tyre of the SUV burst which caused the accident,” the police officer said.
