Mumbai police have registered a hit-and-run case after a 48-year-old food delivery worker died nearly 50 days after being struck by an unidentified vehicle in Santacruz (East), with investigators seeking CCTV footage to identify the driver who allegedly fled the scene.
Mansoor Chopdawala, a resident of Kurla (West), was riding an electric scooter while delivering food for Zepto when the crash took place near Mumbai University between 10.30 pm and 11 pm on July 29. Police said the vehicle was being driven at high speed and hit Chopdawala’s scooter, leaving him with severe injuries to his head, leg, ear and eyes.
The Bandra Kurla Complex police registered the case after Chopdawala’s wife, Reshma Chopdawala, filed a complaint on Friday. The driver has not been arrested. Police have sought CCTV recordings from the night of the crash as part of efforts to trace the vehicle and establish what happened.
Chopdawala died at a Chembur hospital at 5 pm on September 17, after undergoing treatment at several hospitals. He was initially taken to Bhabha Hospital in Kurla after the crash, shifted to a Chembur hospital on August 1 and later admitted to Sion Hospital, according to the report.
His wife told The Times of India that she was informed about the accident by a Zepto driver named Parvesh, who called at 11.10 pm on July 29. She reached the hospital with relatives Samreen Bagwan and Shabbir Bagwan, where colleagues told the family that an unknown vehicle had hit Chopdawala while he was riding his electric scooter.
Reshma said the delay in filing the complaint was linked to the effort required to arrange and manage her husband’s treatment. She said she sold her gold ornaments and borrowed money from relatives and friends to pay for medicines. According to her account, Chopdawala was administered two injections costing Rs 5,000 a day to revive his brain, and the medicines were provided after she produced her Aadhaar card.
Chopdawala was the sole breadwinner of the family, which includes his wife and their 18-year-old daughter, Zahra. Reshma also said she did not know whether the company where her husband worked had approached the family with financial assistance.
The case brings together two unresolved issues in the incident: identifying the vehicle involved in the collision and establishing whether the injured rider received timely assistance after the crash. The police investigation is currently focused on CCTV footage and other available evidence from the Santacruz location.
The next official step is the review of CCTV footage to identify the vehicle and driver involved in the July 29 crash.
