Month after 28-year-old died after incident on WEH, grieving parents don’t buy hit-and-run theory, seek proper investigation
(Left to right) Vaishnavi, Rekha and Rajan Sawant—the wife, mother and father of the deceased—at their home in Jogeshwari; The scooter the youth was riding on the day of the incident. Pics/Diwakar Sharma
It has been a month since the mysterious death of a 28-year-old financial investment executive on the Andheri flyover of Western Express Highway (WEH). But there has been zero headway in the investigation, said the deceased’s father, who asked, “Who killed my only son?”
The deceased, Bhupendra Sawant, was returning home from his Lower Parel office on March 24 evening. He spoke to his wife Vaishnavi minutes before he received mysterious injuries on the WEH. He succumbed to them within 48 hours at a private hospital in Andheri.
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Sawant, who was his family’s sole breadwinner, was due to be promoted in April, and he was very happy about this achievement, his family said.
Sawant got married in December 2021. His six-month-old girl is too young to understand that her father is no more. His wife Vaishnavi said that the investigating officer does not seem to be serious about solving the case. The Andheri police registered a first information report (FIR) 13 days after the incident against an unknown person. The bereaved family members accused the investigation officer, Sub-Inspector Samadhan Supe, of delaying the procedure to retrieve crucial CCTV footage despite their earnest requests.
‘Complete failure’
“It is a complete failure on the part of the Mumbai police. The intentions of PSI Supe are questionable because there has been no headway in the case, which he registered 13 days after my son received brutal injuries on the road,” said Sawant’s grieving father Rajan, 52.
“PSI Supe had told us that it was a hit-and-run case but failed to provide me any proof as such because the injuries he received to his skull, neck and back do not correspond to the damage seen on his scooter,” Rajan said. The police claim that the entire city is under the surveillance of CCTV cameras but when solving such complex cases, investigators unfailingly say the footage is unclear, CCTVs were not working or the incident was not captured. In this case, too, PSI Supe told the family that the hard disk of a CCTV camera got corrupted. “How it is possible? There are multiple CCTV cameras on the stretch where my son was found in blood-stained clothes and red footwear of his was missing. The IO was quick to tell us that the CCTV footage got corrupt and hence, nothing could be retrieved…,” said Rajan.
Sawant’s maternal uncle Shyam Malankar at the spot where the youth was found. Pic/Anurag Ahire
“If my son was hit by some vehicle, why did the scooter not receive any such dent? There were multiple cracks on my son’s skull and his helmet is missing. Was it really a hit-and-run or road rage or did my son lose control over his scooter and skid due to bad road conditions? Everything will be clear if the Mumbai police show us the CCTV footage… if Supe is not able to solve the case or does not intend to do so, I request the Mumbai police to give the case to some competent officer to bring relief to this restless mind,” Rajan said.
“I only need to know who killed my son. Why the Mumbai police is unable to solve my case? Will the commissioner reply as to why there was a delay in registering the FIR? Where should I go to get the answers to these questions?” the teary father told mid-day while his wife Rekha looked on silently at their residence in Jogeshwari East.
Wife’s recollections
Vaishnavi said her husband would always commute via train to his Lower Parel office but March 24 was Sunday and Holika Dahan, so he preferred to take the scooter so he could return soon.
“It was the first Holi for our daughter. My husband was supposed to join us in a puja after returning home. After completing his work, he left at 7.30 pm and made a stop at Bandra at 9 pm. Over there, he told me that he would reach home in the next 15-20 minutes as there was almost zero traffic,” she recalled.“I waited for him till 9.30 pm and called him at 9.35 pm, but I was shocked when someone else received the call and told me to go to the trauma care centre in Jogeshwari. I informed my in-laws and rushed there immediately. His clothes were blood-stained and he was unconscious,” she added.
The family learnt that Sawant had been brought to the emergency ward in a tempo. “A few motorcyclists had noticed my husband lying injured on the road, they stopped a tempo, loaded him and the driver brought him to the centre at 9.19 pm,” she said.
“Something happened between 9 pm and 9.15 pm on the Andheri flyover beneath the Mumbai Metro track. The cops need to investigate what happened in these 15 minutes,” she added. mid-day has learnt that the Andheri police has recorded the statement of tempo driver, but still there is no headway in the case.
‘Who called control room?’
Rajan said, “I have been told that before my injured son was transported to the hospital, someone had also informed the Mumbai police control room. Who was that person? Why is the Andheri police not approaching the caller to know what he had noticed?”
Bhupendra’s maternal uncle Shyam Malankar had been continuously following up with the police to register the FIR, but Supe told him to wait as he was in Delhi and would register the case once he was back, according to Rajan.
CopSpeak
When contacted, Supe said, “There is no eyewitness or CCTV footage. The accident occurred on the WEH where nearly 200 vehicles pass in a minute. So, it will be really tough to find out which vehicle hit him. Also, the deceased was riding the scooter without a helmet. If he was, he would not have succumbed to his head injuries. Our investigations are underway.”
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