The accused driver, Dev Ghadge, a resident of Nagpur, also suffered serious injuries in the collision and is currently undergoing treatment.
Geeta Sushil Hinge, a women’s wing leader of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Gadchiroli, was killed in an accident on the Nagpur-Umred Highway near Pachgaon, over 30 km from Nagpur, early on Monday, the police said. She was 54.
The accident occurred when a speeding car jumped the road divider and rammed into the vehicle in which Hinge and her husband were travelling.
According to the complaint filed by Shiv Sangidwar, 22, Hinge’s nephew, the family had travelled to Nagpur for a function and was returning to Gadchiroli. Hinge’s husband was driving the car, according to a press note issued, while she was seated in the passenger seat.
The nephew alleged that the car travelling from Umred towards Nagpur was being driven in a reckless and negligent manner. The driver, identified as Dev Ghadge, allegedly lost control of his vehicle, crossed the central road divider, and collided head-on with the Hinge family’s car on the opposite side of the highway.
While Hinge sustained fatal injuries, Ghadge, a resident of Nagpur, suffered serious injuries and is currently undergoing treatment.
The Kuhi Police have registered a case against Ghadge under sections 281 and 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for rash driving and causing death by negligence.
Hinge, who also headed the Aadhar Vishva Foundation through which she actively engaged in social work, was regarded as a prominent figure in Gadchiroli.