A motor accident claims tribunal has awarded approximately Rs 4.03 crore, including interest, to the family of a 38-year-old pharmaceutical executive who sustained fatal injuries and died over a year after a speeding car crashed into his motorcycle on the Eastern Express Highway in 2018. The victim Sachin Revankar was travelling as a pillion rider on a motorcycle being ridden by his friend Sachin Gore.
Revankar was first taken to Mahatma Phule Hospital and then shifted to Fortis Hospital, where Revankar remained admitted from Jan 19 to Feb 7, 2018. Revankar was then admitted to H J Doshi Ghatkopar Hindu Sabha Hospital from Feb 7 to July 26, 2018, and again from Nov 17 to Nov 20, 2018. During the pendency of the claim, Revankar died on July 12, 2019.
The police registered offences for rash and negligent driving and later added the offence relating to death by negligence. The insurer argued that the motorcycle rider was negligent, that the driver of the car did not have a valid and effective driving licence, and that the car driver had not been joined as a party. The tribunal rejected these objections. On the licence defence, the tribunal noted that no witness or document proved breach of policy conditions and that the police papers did not show prosecution for driving without a licence.
Mumbai: A motor accident claims tribunal has awarded approximately Rs 4.03 crore, including interest, to the family of a 38-year-old pharmaceutical executive who sustained fatal injuries and died over a year after a speeding car crashed into his motorcycle on the Eastern Express Highway in 2018. The tribunal found that the victim worked as a zonal business manager and earned a monthly salary of Rs 1.35 lakh including incentives. The claim was filed on March 16, 2018, by the victim’s 36-year-old widow, his 9-year-old son, and his 59-year-old mother against a private machine tools company, Precihole Machine Tools Pvt Ltd, the owner of the vehicle, and its insurer, National Insurance Co Ltd. The claim arose from a Jan 19, 2018, accident on the Eastern Express Highway near Vikhroli East.
Ruling that Revankar died due to injuries suffered in the accident, the tribunal noted that he remained bedridden after the crash.
“There is no such evidence on record to show that the deceased was suffering from any other ailment prior to the said accident or he was died due to other ailment,” the tribunal said. The applicants said the motorcycle was being ridden slowly and in compliance with traffic rules when a car came at high speed and hit the motorcycle. The victim Sachin Revankar was travelling as a pillion rider on a motorcycle being ridden by his friend Sachin Gore. Both riders fell and Revankar suffered severe head and facial injuries.
The tribunal recorded that the widow, an eyewitness-motorcycle rider, hospital officials and Revankar’s employer proved the accident, treatment, employment and salary records.