Two Marathi television actors – Anand Abhyankar, 49, and Akshay Pendse, 33 – who were travelling by car from Pune to Mumbai, died in an accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway

2 Marathi TV actors, kid die on Expressway

Mumbai-Pune Expressway claimed three lives when a tempo coming from the opposite directon jumped the divider near Urse toll naka and collided with a Maruti Wagon R. Although a survey has identified the spot as an accident zone, no corrective measure has been taken yet

Two Marathi television actors – Anand Abhyankar, 49, and Akshay Pendse, 33 – who were travelling by car from Pune to Mumbai, died in an accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway around 11pm on Sunday. Pendse’s 2-year-old son Pratush, who was also in the car, also lost his life. Pendse’s wife, Deepti, and chauffeur, Suresh Patil, escaped with minor injuries. The mishap took place about 40km from Pune, near the Urse toll plaza when an oncoming tempo jumped the divider and collided with the car (a WagonR), damaging its right side. At Wakad, on the fringes of Pune city, Abhyankar, who was sitting beside the chauffeur, decided to get behind the wheel, swapping seats with the driver. Pendse was in the rear seat behind the driver. “As a result, Abhyankar and Pendse sustained multiple injuries on the head besides other parts. The infant too was grievously injured,” said sub-inspector Pradip Suryawanshi of Kamshet police station which has jurisdiction over the mishap site. By the time the police and the highway patrol squad reached the place, Abhaynkar, Pendse and Pratush were unconscious while Deepti and Patil were frantically calling for help from passing vehicles. “All of them were rushed to a private hospital where the infant and the two men died,” said Suryawanshi. The bodies of the deceased were taken to the civic-run Yeshwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital in Pimpri-Chinchwad for post-mortem examinations. The bodies were handed over to the relatives of the deceased on Monday morning. Meanwhile, the tempo driver, who fled the spot, surrendered at the same police station on Monday morning. “The tempo driver, Shrirang Mele, 35, who hails from Osmanabad district, has been arrested for causing death by negligence,” said Suryawanshi. On Monday morning, a crane towed away the mangled remains of the ill-fated car from the accident spot. The two actors had finished a film shoot for an upcoming Marathi film in Pune, and were on their way to Mumbai for another shoot. Abhyankar is survived by wife Anjali, daughter Sanika and son Neeraj. While the infant’s body was buried, those of Abhyankar and Pendse were cremated in Pune. Urse stretch lacks proper dividers Three deaths in Sunday’s accident near Urse toll naka has once again highlighted the dangers on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway. Although the spot has been identified as accident-prone, nothing has been done about it. In 2009, the rail and road traffic committee of the Mahratta Chambers of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) conducted a survey on the 29-km stretch of the expressway and presented their recommendations to the authorities. The survey found problems on the expressway and the Urse toll naka was identified as one of the accident-prone spots. Gahunje Bridge and Beur were also killer spots. Chandmal Parmar, road safety expert, said the road dividers are faulty on the Urse stretch. “Although there is a toll naka near the spot, drivers do not to slow down and often end up jumping the divider, leading to accidents,” he said. The absence of proper dividers too is a hurdle for drivers. “Short bushes should be planted on the dividers,” he said. Parmar said that with no proper vegetation on dividers, drivers get blinded by headlights of vehicles from the opposite lane. Lane-cutting, rash driving, overstepping by heavy vehicles in other lanes add to the problem. The MCCIA had also suggested stricter speed control. Shocked driver recalls moments before collision Suresh Patil, the 30-year-old driver of Anand Abhyankar’s new Wagon R car was shocked when their vehicle was hit from the right side by a tempo coming from the opposite direction in a fraction of a second on the Pune-Mumbai expressway. Patil, a resident of Kandivli (Mumbai), where Abhyankar has his residence, was working with Anand as his driver for last six months. He said that they began the journey on Sunday morning for Pune and Anand drove the car till Panvel from Kandivli. He said that he drove the car from Panvel to Khalapur on the expressway and then again, Abhyankar drove the car to the Agriculture College in Pune where he was shooting for Duniyadari. Patil recalled that after the pack up, Anand made it a point to visit his parents’ residence at Dahanukar Colony as he wanted to show them, his new car. They reached Dahanukar Colony at 9 pm and after spending some time with his parents, they began the journey to Mumbai. Anand had asked Akshay Pendse and his family to come to Dahanukar Colony from where they left for Mumbai. Patil said that after leaving Pune, Anand asked him to stop at a spot after which he started driving. He recollected, “After crossing the first toll naka, we noticed a speeding tempo and before we could grasp anything, it hit our vehicle from the right side and both the doors on the right side, bore the brunt of the collision.’’ Patil then called up Anand’s wife Anjali, who called up Anand’s close friend Jayant Godbole. Godbole called an ambulance and informed others but it was too late.