Pune tanker crash leaves woman dead; driver arrested

Past incidents

In the last six months, seven people have died in accidents involving water tankers in Pune city and Pimpri Chinchwad.

Of these, most deaths were reported in April alone – the period when demand for water tankers and their movement across the city peaked.

On April 5, a speeding water tanker knocked down a two-wheeler near NIBM Annex, causing the death of rider Ariz Shaikh, 19, a student. To protest against Shaikh’s death, thousands of residents from Mohammadwadi, Undri, and NIBM areas in Pune took out a massive candlelight protest on April 10.

A two-wheeler rider, Gracia Dora, 22, lost her life on April 7, after being hit by a water tanker near Ganga Satellite Society in Wanowrie. The driver, Santoshkumar Indradevprasad Maurya, was arrested.

Following the two back-to-back fatal incidents, the traffic control branch of the Pune city police carried out a major drive against water tankers on April 9 and April 10. Police teams checked over 400 water tankers in different parts of Pune city. During the drive, the police filed cases against 38 water tanker drivers for violating traffic norms and seized 19 water tankers for operating without essential documents.

But, again on April 16, a water tanker crushed a two-wheeler rider, Pratik Ashwin Sheth, 43, to death in Hadapsar. Following Sheth’s death, the police arrested water tanker driver Avinash Anandrao Jadhav, 33, and vehicle owner Umesh Anandrao Jadhav, 30, on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.