The condition of the car post accident on Samruddhi Mahamarg

Six people including a 12-year-old girl, four women and one man traveling in a high speed car on Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway (Lonar taluka of Buldhana district) died in a tragic crash on Sunday morning after the car driver Suresh Bharat Barve (35) fell asleep and lost control of the vehicle.

However, seven other passengers in the car including four small children along with the driver were rushed to Aurangabad for medical attention. Cops said the 13 people in the car were headed to Shengaon from Aurangabad. 

Sandeep Pise, an eye witness, claimed had the ambulance arrived on time,  several lives could have been saved. He told told mid-day, “I was working in my field around 7.55 am on Sunday when I heard a loud thud. I could tell that a major accident had occurred so I immediately rushed to the spot along with others working in the field. I saw women and children scattered on the busy road while a few of them were in a semi-conscious condition and the others were writhing in pain.

He added, “The accident took place near Shivni Pisa village, which is between two toll plazas, Mehkar Fardapur and Dusarbid, on the expressway. Both the toll plazas are around 15 km away, and an ambulance could have easily reached within 10 minutes. But it arrived after 45 minutes.”

“The only person inside the car was the driver, who later struggled to get out of the vehicle and started running here and there on the highway. Later the driver also fainted on the road. We called our relatives and friends from a nearby village. Around 100 people gathered in no time and we tried to call the authorities for immediate help,” he added.

“When a local police team reached the spot, they started to shoo us away when we requested them to rush the severely injured people to a nearby hospital. But the cops started to shout at us and they waited for the arrival of the ambulance that came after 45 minutes. Had the ambulance come a little early, at least a few lives could have been saved,” he added.

The Samruddhi Mahamarg, also known as Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway, is open to traffic between Shirdi and Nagpur.

The deceased have been identified as Janhavi Suresh Barve, 11; Hausabai Bharat Barve, 75; Shraddha Suresh Barve, 28; Kiran Rajendra Bodade, 28; Bhagyashree Kiran Bodade, 25; and Pramila Rajendra Bodade, 52. Those rushed to the hospital, besides Suresh, are Namrata Ravindra Barve, 32; Rudra Ravindra Barve, 12; Yash Ravindra Barve, 10; Saumya Ravindra Barve, 4; Jatin Suresh Barve, 4; Vaishnavi Sunil Gaikwad, 19.

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Manish Sisodia

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in his resignation letter on Tuesday said that it was unfortunate that despite working with honesty and truthfulness continuously for eight years, corruption charges were levelled against him. AAP leaders and Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain resigned from their posts in the state cabinet on Tuesday after being accused of alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Delhi government.

Sisodia said in his resignation letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “It is unfortunate that despite working with honesty and truthfulness continuously for eight years, corruption charges are being levelled against me. I and my God know that all these allegations are false.”

He added, “These allegations are in fact nothing more than a conspiracy of cowardly and weak people who are scared of Arvind Kejriwal’s politics of truth. I am not their target, you [Kejriwal] are their target. Because today not only Delhi but the people of the whole country are seeing you as a leader who has a vision for the country and the ability to bring big changes in the lives of the people by implementing it. Today Arvind Kejriwal has become a name of hope in the eyes of crores of people across the country who are facing problems like economic crisis, poverty, unemployment, inflation and corruption.”

Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain Sisodia’s plea challenging his arrest in connection with the excise policy case after he was arrested on Sisodia was arrested. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, “It can not interfere in the matter as it may open the gate of people approaching the top court in every such matter.”

While Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Monday sent Sisodia to CBI custody for five days, Jain is currently in Judicial Custody in connection with another case related to money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

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Anil Deshmukh

Former Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh approached a Special Court on Thursday seeking permission to visit his hometown Nagpur and Delhi. The Bombay High Court, while granting Deshmukh bail, had put a condition that the latter should not leave Mumbai without the trial court’s permission.

The senior NCP leader, who’s out on bail in an alleged money laundering case, was arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in November, 2021 and later by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April 2022.

Deshmukh, who filed two separate pleas before the trial court through his advocate Inderpal Singh, said he was a native of Nagpur and has deep family roots there, apart from being the elected representative of an Assembly constituency in Nagpur district. In his plea, Deshmukh stated that he also needed to visit New Delhi to meet his lawyers. 

Special judge RN Rokade sought a response from the ED and CBI and adjourned the matter to February 6.

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