A BMW that crashed through a barrier on Mumbai’s Coastal Road and fell into an under-construction site, killing three students and critically injuring another, had been named in an earlier overspeeding complaint at Gamdevi police station, according to a report by Times of India – Mumbai.
The latest crash occurred around 5.20am on Sunday near Lotus Jetty in Worli, when the car was travelling from Marine Drive towards Haji Ali. Police said the vehicle appeared to have been speeding before the driver lost control on the second-level ramp and the car plunged about 75 metres, or roughly 70 feet, into the construction site.
The deceased were identified as Dhairya Sheth, 17, Aditya Jakasania, 19, and Shanay Gajjar, 21, who was driving the car. Aditya Oswal, 23, suffered multiple injuries and was being treated at BYL Nair Hospital. All four occupants were from Gujarat and were studying at colleges in Mumbai. Gajjar and Oswal were architecture students at a college in Kurla, while Sheth and Jakasania attended a management college in Mumbai’s western suburbs.
Police reached the crash site after a motorist alerted the control room that a vehicle had fallen from the road. A watchman who had witnessed the accident helped officers identify the exact location. The four occupants were taken to Nair Hospital by ambulance, where doctors declared three of them dead.
CCTV footage showed the BMW travelling at high speed before the crash. The impact threw one victim around 20 feet from the vehicle, while another was found outside it, the report said. Police said Gajjar was partly inside the car, with his leg on the accelerator, and that all the airbags had deployed.
The vehicle had also been involved in a separate incident on March 29, when it hit Omkar Shirke and his wife. Shirke had filed a complaint at Gamdevi police station alleging overspeeding and had recorded video of the incident. That footage has now circulated on social media, showing Shirke and a man driving the BMW during the earlier episode.
Police traced the vehicle through its registration number and contacted Gajjar’s father, who travelled to Mumbai to claim his son’s body. Senior inspector Mina Jagtap of Tardeo police said blood samples had been collected and would be sent to the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory. Postmortems were conducted at Nair Hospital.
Police said accidental-death cases would be registered along with cases under relevant provisions relating to causing death by negligence and rash and negligent driving. The investigation will also examine the circumstances surrounding the earlier complaint and the latest crash.
The accident has renewed attention on safety on the Coastal Road, which opened in March 2024. According to the report, at least six people have died in accidents on the road since its opening, with the toll rising to seven when the connected Bandra-Worli Sea Link stretch is included. The latest investigation is expected to establish the vehicle’s speed, the driver’s condition and the precise circumstances in which the BMW breached the barrier.
