Fallen mobile phone leads Mumbai Police to hit-and-run biker

Dr Avantika has been advised rest for three weeks; (right) Chetan Utekar was arrested two days later

A woman doctor was left with a fractured leg and her doctor husband suffered bruises after a speeding bike rammed into them at Kandivli on Holi. The biker sped away but left behind his mobile phone that fell from his hand. The device helped the Samta Nagar police track and arrest him on Sunday. The couple was on a walk at the time.

Dr Prashant Mishra, a professor of Cardiac Surgery at Sion hospital and the dean of Malad Covid Jumbo Centre, remained unconscious for a few minutes, while his wife Dr Avantika Mishra's leg was fractured.

"It was around 9 pm. I was on the road side while my wife Dr Avantika was on my left. The road was empty but the motorcyclist rammed into us from behind and we both fell down… though I got minor abrasions, my wife's left leg got fractured," Dr Mishra told mid-day.

"Locals told me that I fell unconscious. I regained consciousness and saw my wife crying in pain. A cellphone, suspected to be that of the motorcyclist, was lying on the road. I picked it up, helped my wife get into an auto rickshaw with the help of local people and reached Samta Nagar police station. The police asked us to get a medical check up done. So, we headed to Thunga hospital in Malad where my wife works and then the FIR was registered," said Dr Mishra.

"My wife's fibula bone got fractured and she has been advised three weeks' bed rest…there is chaos due to motorcyclists on Shyam Narayan Thakur Marg where the accident took place. Also, during the night, a number of youths indulge in motorcycle racing yet there is no police check on them," he added.

After waiting for two days, when the motorcyclist was not arrested, Dr Mishra took to Twitter to air his grievance. "@CPMumbaiPolice sir me and wife both were knocked down by a biker during evening walk (he was driving very fast )my wife's left leg is fractured , we have given name and address of biker still biker is not arrested ( almost 48 hrs )."

"I was walking on the side of the road and the entire road was empty and according to passers-by, the biker was holding a mobile phone in one hand and he was driving fast and knocked us from behind.": read the thread in his tweet.

An officer from Samata Nagar police station said, "We registered an FIR. The accused was not immediately found as he had gone underground after the accident. But we arrested him on Sunday."

The officer said they tracked down the 24-year-old biker, identified as Chetan Utekar, with the help of his mobile phone. Utekar, too is a Kandivli resident.

The doctor couple said Utekar's mother tried to settle the matter. "But her efforts were futile," said Dr Mishra.