A speeding SUV car ran over a four-year-old boy while he was crossing the road with his 24-year-old mother.
The police said mother and son were returning home after shopping at a supermarket at Yari Road in Andheri (West) on Saturday night. According to the Versova police, the incident occurred around 9.30 pm. Mohammad Saad Shaikh had gone with his mother to the supermarket across the road, the police said.
The Shaikhs live opposite the market in Riddhi Building. His grandfather told Hindustan Times that Saad’s mother was asking the driver of the speeding Ford Endeavour to stop, but he failed to apply the brakes on time.
The car, which is owned by a doctor, was occupied by three others — the doctor’s wife, daughter and a relative.
They were going from their Versova residence to a relative’s place at Yari Road. The accused — 28-year-old Shobnath Saroj — drove over the boy’s head, said a nearby shopkeeper.
The boy’s family member said the driver tried to flee the spot, but onlookers chased him on motorcycles and caught him. Saad’s uncle Zaid Ahmed Shaikh told Hindustan Times, “The driver should have stopped the car when it hit my nephew, but he drove over him. No amount of punishment will compensate for what his mother will suffer as she saw her child being driven over. Such inhuman and reckless behaviour should be met with strict punishment.”
Soon after the incident, the boy, who turned four in May, was rushed to a nearby private hospital by locals, but he was referred to Cooper Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Saroj told the police he has been driving for 10 years and this is the first time was involved in an accident.
He further claimed it was raining heavily and the child came in front of the car suddenly, not giving him enough time to stop. The police said Saroj has been booked under Sections 279 (rash driving) and 304 A (causing death by negligence) of IPC and 134 A and B of the Motor Vehicles Act.
He has been remanded in judicial custody and was denied bail.