Senior Kolhapur cop’s mother and driver killed in SUV-truck crash in Karnataka

KOLHAPUR: Anti-corruption bureau chief of Kolhapur and deputy superintendent of police Vaishnavi Patil's mother, Kamal Patil (69), and her driver, Rakesh Aiwale (39), died on the spot when their SUV collided with a truck near Tamatakallu village in Karnataka's Chitradurga taluka, about 410km from Kolhapur city, along the Pune-Bengaluru national highway, between 4am and 4.30am on Sunday.Deputy SP Patil and two others were seriously injured in the crash and were admitted to a hospital in Chitradurga. Her aunt, Kusum Patil (57), and constable Uday Patil (38) were the other injured victims."The SUV belonging to the deputy SP hit the truck. The driver had driven the vehicle for almost eight hours without a break, and might have dozed off, lost control, and hit the multi-axle vehicle. The senior police officer is out of danger. She is undergoing treatment at the Basaveshwara Medical College and Hospital in Chitradurga, along with the other injured people. She is still in shock at present. We will talk to her once she is in a better position to talk. We have informed her relatives, and they have come here to be with her," said Dinakar P K, the deputy superintendent of Chitradurga police, who visited the accident spot and the hospital.The Patil family was returning to Kolhapur from Rameshwaram after attending a wedding ceremony there and visiting some temples. They had left Kolhapur on Thursday.Deputy SP Vaishnavi Patil was sitting in the front seat. With the force of the accident, the airbag inflated, and she survived with some injuries. She had joined the Kolhapur anti-corruption bureau (ACB) in Aug 2024.Driver Aiwale was from Nippani village in Karnataka, bordering Maharashtra, while Patil's mother and aunt were from Kande village in Sangli district, the police said.