A pedestrian died after an autorickshaw hit him near Vakola signal in Santa Cruz East, prompting Vakola Police to register a case against the driver on a complaint filed by the victim’s rakhi sister.
The deceased, Vasudev Munde, worked as a driver and lived with his 75-year-old rakhi sister, Leena Thomas, at Vakola Pipeline. His wife and son live in Salem, Tamil Nadu, from where Munde originally hailed.
According to the complaint reported by the Times of India, Munde did not return home after leaving for work on October 22. At about 9 pm, Thomas called his phone to find out where he was. A policeman answered and told her that Munde had been injured in a road crash and had been taken to VN Desai Hospital.
Munde had been walking near Vakola signal when the autorickshaw struck him, according to the account available to the police. He lost consciousness in the crash and was rushed to the hospital’s intensive care unit with severe head injuries. He later died at the hospital.
Thomas subsequently informed Munde’s wife about his death and approached Vakola Police to lodge a complaint against the autorickshaw driver, identified as Chhote Kumar Sah. Police registered a case citing rash driving and negligence.
The incident places attention on the risks faced by pedestrians at one of Mumbai’s busy signalised road junctions, where people on foot must share space with motorised traffic. The available police account does not provide details about the vehicle’s speed, the traffic signal phase, road design, lighting conditions or whether any witnesses were formally recorded.
The case has been registered following the complaint, and the police investigation will determine the circumstances of the collision and the driver’s responsibility. Further details on the investigation were not available in the supplied report.
