Four killed as vehicle crashes into bridge railing near Jintur in Parbhani

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Four men died on the spot when the multi-utility vehicle they were travelling in rammed a bridge railing near Jintur, in Parbhani district, around 12.10am on Thursday.All four deceased men were friends residing in Parbhani's Gangakhed, and they had embarked on a pilgrimage to Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. Their one friend survived the accident and was admitted to a private hospital following a head injury, the police said.Inspector Gajendra Sarode, of the Jintur police station, said the driver of the vehicle initially fled the spot, but surrendered on Thursday morning. "The driver also received some injuries and is currently hospitalised. According to him, a truck came in front of his vehicle on a narrow bridge near Akoli village. He lost control of the wheel after being blinded by the headlights of the heavy vehicle," Sarode said.The deceased have been identified as Rohan Rathod (25), Balaji Auti (27), Balasaheb Ghorpade (29) and Krishna Ghute (26). After the postmortem, all the bodies were handed to family members by Thursday afternoon."As per the statement of the man who survived the accident, all the friends were supposed to leave for Ujjain early on Thursday morning. However, they changed their plans at the last moment and decided to undertake a night journey to reach the pilgrim town early," Sarode said.The police have registered a case under BNS section 106(1) (causing death by any rash or negligent act), among other charges, against the driver of the vehicle.The Jintur police stated that the National Highway authorities had visited the accident site. "The road concerned is narrow, and its construction is in progress on one side. The National Highway authorities have suggested certain safety measures until the road construction gets over," Sarode said.