Varun Pujari from Mira Road, being underage, had borrowed a bike from a friend, and met with an accident on Sunday evening during a race on the Western Express highway
A 17-year-old from Mira Road, Varun Pujari, is the latest to have succumbed to the deadly lure of racing a bike. The boy, being underage, had borrowed a bike from a friend, and met with an accident on Sunday evening during a race on the Western Express highway.
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The deceased, Varun Pujari (inset), was part of a group of bikers who call themselves the Drack Riders
The father of the deceased, Wasant Pujari (50) is mourning the loss of his only son. He said that, earlier, he did not know that Varun used to race bikes. “When I came to know that he used to race bikes, I stopped him and restricted him from going out of the house in the evening,” said Wasant, who operates a garage in Mira Road.
“The day he died, he had told me that he would accompany me for house and garage work. On the same evening, a friend had called, and he left the house saying he would return soon and would have dinner with the family.
Bike races must be banned. I have lost my only son, and I do not want any other parent to lose their child like I did. The government should implement strict laws,” said Wasant.
On Sunday evening, Varun met his friends for a spin on the bike. While he was with his friends, he started the race and met with an accident on the flyover, losing his life. After the accident, his friends did not come to his rescue, and abandoned him on the road at the accident spot, and fled with the bike.
While Varun was lying on the road in a pool of blood, an auto rickshaw driver spotted him and immediately rushed him to a civic hospital, where he was declared dead before admission. Police have recovered the bike, which Varun’s friends had hidden at an isolated location in Mira Road’s Pleasant Park.
Varun was a student of Nirmala College in Kandivli and was studying in Std XII. According to Varun’s brother-in-law Harish Pujari, there is a gang of riders in Mira Road who call themselves the Drack Riders. This group has been created by people fond of bike riding. Most of the members of this gang are below 18 years old.
The fateful day
The race was conducted by this gang on Sunday at 7 pm along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway bridge just opposite Kashimira police station.
Varun was racing on the wrong side of the road and the rest of his companions were cheering him on. Police said he was on motor bike no MH-04 FS -8694. While racing, Varun lost his balance and crashed into the side of the road divider. All of Varun’s friends fled from the spot with their bikes after the accident.
Senior Inspector Anil Kadam of Kashimira police station said, “We have registered a case under 304a (death by negligence), 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life), 338 Causing grievous hurt) of the IPC and 184 & 187 of the Motor Vehicles Act.”
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