6 cans of beer found in Fortuner that crushed 4 people on Ahmedabad pavement

The death toll in Monday’s late-evening crash in the Nikol area of Ahmedabad rose to two on Tuesday (November 3) after the 15-year-old son of the woman victim also succumbed to his injuries. A speeding Toyota Fortuner SUV had ploughed into four people believed to be resting on the pavement near Devasya International School on the busy main road of Nikol.

A 30-year-old woman, who was later identified as Punam Nagvadiya, was killed in the accident, and two others, including her son, were badly injured. The teenage boy, who died on Tuesday, has been identified as Sagar Jitendra Nagvadiya, the Ahmedabad City Traffic Police said.

The two other individuals who were injured in the incident, Kartik Ashok Vasoya and his wife Snehal, both 34-year-old residents of Nikol, had been admitted to hospital, police said. The driver and owner of the Fortuner, 36-year-old Viral Savji Chaudhary, has been booked in two separate cases for culpable homicide (not amounting to murder) and under Gujarat’s prohibition law.

Six cans of beer were found in the SUV, police said. “As six cans of beer were discovered inside the vehicle of the accused, a separate complaint has been filed against him at the Nikol police station under the Prohibition Act,” Traffic (East) DCP Nareshkumar Kanzaria said in a statement.

In an initial statement late on Monday evening, DCP Kanzaria had said the driver of the Fortuner had been “operating the vehicle in a reckless and negligent manner”, and investigations were underway “to determine whether the driver was under the influence of any intoxicating substance”.

Videos purportedly from the aftermath of the tragedy showed a huge crowd at the spot, and people trying to lift a large white vehicle to retrieve an unconscious male child from under it. Another person was seen lying motionless on the road as people gathered around trying to help the victims of the accident.

Police said Viral Chaudhari, a resident of Nana Chiloda in Ahmedabad, who was behind the wheel of the Fortuner, had been apprehended after the incident, and legal proceedings had been initiated against him. He was booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) sections relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and rash or negligent driving that endangers human life; and under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act and Section 66(1)(b) of the Prohibition Act, in an FIR registered at the ‘I’ Traffic Police Station.

Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujar... Read More