Mumbai: In a case of hit and run an unknown vehicle ran down a 10-year-old on the Western Express Highway (WEH) at Vile Parle (East) in the wee hours of Tuesday. The boy Prathamesh Parmar, who was injured in the accident, was rushed to a nearby hospital but died during treatment. The Vile Parle police have registered an offence and are looking for the person who was driving the vehicle.
The incident happened at around 12.20 am on Tuesday when an unknown vehicle dashed the boy at the south bound road of the WEH, opposite Patra Gate in Vile Parle (East). The onlookers who spotted the accident immediately alerted the police and rushed the boy to nearby V N Desai hospital where the boy succumbed to his injuries.
The Vile Parle police who had no clue about the identity of the boy tried looking in the area for his identification but no one from the vicinity had any clue about him. The police then circulated a message on WhatsApp groups of police with the child's photograph.
Soon police officials from Samata Nagar police station in Kandivali contacted them and said that a boy of a similar age was missing from their jurisdiction since Monday. When the photograph was then shown to his family who identified him to be their missing child, said police.
Following an argument Prathamesh had left his house, late in the night his family had approached Samta Nagar police and lodged a missing persons complaint. When the CCTV footage of the WEH was checked the boy was seen walking along the WEH alone, said officials.
"We have registered an offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for rash driving (279) and causing death by negligence (304A) along with relevant sections of Motor Vehicle act. And we are trying to trace the vehicle," said Alka Mandave, senior inspector of Vile Parle police station. The police are checking the CCTV footage along the highway to trace the vehicle.
