After hitting the four boys, the car rammed into a police patrolling van and came to a halt.
Police said that all the four boys who are in the age group of 14 to 18 were seriously injured and were rushed to Saint George hospital and admitted to ICU. One of them who has received multiple injuries was serious at the time of going to the press.
The injured admitted to Saint George hospital have been identified as Vijay Ramavadh Rajbhar (18), Sadam Ansari (17), Ajay Gupta (18), and Pravin (18).
Police are still collecting information of the injured boys from their belongings and identity cards. Police said that these boys were coming from Fort and were heading towards CST railway station when the accident took place.
The Azad Maidan police have detained the driver identified as Dilip Revchand Chatwani, a Mahim resident and is said to be a metal trader. Polie have sent Chatwani for medical test to ascertain whether he was under influence of alcohol.
Police said that the accident took place at around 7.30pm. At the time of going to the press the police were still collecting information and recording statements of independent witnesses. “One of the eye witnesses said that the car was at a high speed and came from the CST Railway station side. It was waiting at the signal and suddenly it came in at a high speed and hit a BEST bus. It then took a drift turn near Mc Donald and hit the four pedestrians who were crossing the road towards CST railway station and hit the police van before stopping”, said deputy commissioner of police (zone 1) Pravin Munde.
“The car came in high speed and it appears that the driver instead of applying the brake may have applied the accelerator and that is why he lost control and hit the four people. The driver tried to flee the car but a member of the public caught him,” said an eye witness.
The impact of the accident was that the airbags of the car got inflated.
Experts say that the airbags open only when the car hits with a particular range of impact. Airbags are inflatable cushions built into a vehicle that protect occupants from hitting the vehicle interior or objects outside the vehicle.
Senior inspector of Azad Maidan police Nitin Tadake said that they are in the process of registering an FIR.
