Four persons were killed while one was severely injured when the car they were travelling in fell into a gorge off Mumbai-Bangalore Highway at Khambatki ghat in Satara district on Sunday. Khandala police said the five were on their way back home after a visit to Mandhardevi temple when the accident occurred. The victims have been identified as Prakash Dnyeshwar Malwad (41) of Pimple Gurav,Santosh Chinchwade (28) of Ganesh Peth,Lokendra Sambahadur Thapa (26) of Laxminagar and Shravan Akul (31) of Sudarshanhagar area,Pimple Gurav. Vijay T J Varghese suffered injuries in the accident. As per the police complaint registered by Varghese,their Ford Figo went off the road after the driver lost control. Inspector Shridhar Jadhav of Khandala police said,The accident took place near Mauje Vanyachi village. Prima facie,it seems that the driver had lost control of the vehicle as we found skid marks at the site. The bodies were handed over to relatives after the postmortem. No traces of alcohol were found in their blood. The police said Malwad was a businessman and Akul and Varghese were his friends. Thapa and Chinchwade used to work for Malwad. Jadhav said,The group visited the temple in the afternoon and had planned to have dinner at Wai. But when they did not get food at Wai,they decided to return to Pune. Prakashs death shocks Kasarwadi Forty-one-year-old Prakash Malwad was an outstanding wicketkeeper of the Kasarwadi Eleven Cricket Club for years. He was admired for his batting skills as well. He made his debut for our team when he was barely 15. He could face any bowler, recalled Rajendra Shelkhe,who captained the Kasarwadi Eleven Cricket Club. Shelkhe said he and his vice-captain Sunil Chacko were surprised at the wicketkeeping skills of Malwad. He had all the abilities to make it big as a wicketkeeper,but could not do so due to financial constraints, said Jayant Kariya,who played with Malwad for years. A large number of friends attended Malwads funeral.
