FIVE PERSONS were killed on the spot when their SUV rammed into a truck from the rear end, on the Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway close to Sojali village in Mehmadabad taluka of Kheda district. The deceased were travelling from Bharuch towards Ahmedabad early on Monday morning, when the accident took place.
The driver of the SUV was booked under IPC sections 279 (Rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304 (A) (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
“All the five were killed on the spot before they could be rescued. The car was badly mangled and we are not sure who was driving it. We are speculating that either the driver was trying to overtake the heavy vehicle, or had dozed off while driving and rammed into the vehicle. But it is still under investigation,” said Sub-Inspector S A Patel, Mehmadabad police station.
The deceased were identified as Pragnesh Joshi (51), a native of Khedbrahmha, Mahendra Chauhan (38) and Rajendra Patel (38), both natives of Bharuch, Rignesh Patel (40) from Karjan and Birendra Shah (42) from Muzzafarnagar. They were associated with a private construction company, the police said.