Ajit Pawar has close shave on Vashi bridge

Lady luck certainly had her eye out for Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar yesterday morning, as he narrowly escaped a serious road accident while returning from Pune to the city.

Lucky escape: The truck that jumped lanes and collided with two vehicles, which were part ofu00a0Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's cavalcade

Pawar's car was second in a three-vehicle convoy crossing the Vashi bridge around 9 am, when an oncoming truck jumped the road divider, grazed the police vehicle bringing up the rear before scraping past the deputy CM's vehicle.

The collision resulted in minor damages to the police vehicle and Pawar's car and he continued to the city to attend meetings shortly after.
According to Navi Mumbai police, the truck driver was heading toward Panvel when he skidded while trying to avoid a crash with another vehicle on his side of the road.

The out-of-control truck bounced over the divider and into the path of Pawar's oncoming convoy, hitting the two vehicles in the process.

The officials believe it could have been a major accident if the truck had turned turtle or toppled onto the deputy CM's cavalcade.

"According to the truck driver, a vehicle next to his applied the brakes forcing him to do the same. Since the road was slippery due to incessant overnight rain, the truck skidded, jumped the divider and landed into the path of approaching traffic," said an official from Vashi police station.

He added that the intensity of the collision was too low to cause major damage to vehicles in Pawar's convoy, apart from impaired indicators and dented bonnets.

"Since there was no major damage to the vehicles, including the one in which Pawar was travelling, he left for Mumbai shortly after the accident to attend meetings," said SA Quadri, assistant commissioner of Navi Mumbai traffic police.

Vashi police has registered an FIR against truck driver Chotu Viren Khushwah, under sections 279 and 427 of IPC and 184 of Motor Vehicles Act. u00a0