Tempo collides head-on with cooperative minister Harshavardhan Patil's car, CM Prithiviraj Chavan comes calling to the city to meet him and his wife
Tempo collides head-on with cooperative minister Harshavardhan Patil's car, CM Prithiviraj Chavan comes calling to the city to meet him and his wife
State cooperative minister Harshavardhan Patil and three others, including his wife, were injured in an early morning mishap when a tempo collided head-on with the vehicle they were travelling on Morgaon-Baramati road near Medhak village. According to officials, Patil, his wife Bhagyashri, PA Kishor Gavas and driver Shivaji Patil were injured after their vehicle collided with a tempo around 1 am yesterday. 
Courtesy visit: Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavanu00a0visits his injured cabinet
colleague Harshvardhan Patilu00a0at a city hospital yesterday. Pic/Jahnvi
The minister and other victims have been admitted to Ruby Hall Clinic in Pune, while the tempo driver was admitted to Kale Hospital, some 8 km from the accident site. According to the Baramati police, the accident took place when Patil was on his way to Pune from Indapur. A case has been registered against the tempo driver.
According to Inspector Ashok Wandhekar, the police received a call from the minister's bodyguard alerting them about this incident at 1 am. DYSP Namdeo Mittewad said, "The tempo driver is responsible for the accident. We suspect he veered into the wrong side and as a result of which he collided with the minister Patil's vehicle."
According to Wandhekar the tempo driver Tushar Kanherkar, who suffered serious injuries on his legs, will be arrested after he is discharged from the hospital.
Dr Raghav Barve, orthopaedic and joint replacement surgeon who is attending to the minister and his wife, said both of them were out of danger. "The minister has got a fracture on the right hand, just above the wrist. We will operate on him today or tomorrow. Besides that he had a small cut on the head that has been sutured. His wife, however, suffered deep lacerations on the face. Plastic as well as microvascular surgeons are attending to her," said Barve.
According to him, the minister is likely to be discharged in 4-5 days, but his wife may require a few more days of hospitalisation. His personal assistant Kishore Gavas and driver Shrikant Patil were also taken to Ruby Hall Clinic, but discharged after OPD treatment as they suffered minor injuries. Mohan Joshi, MLC, Pune, said that there are no directives from the chief minister forbidding elected members to travel at night.
Harshvardhan Patil had gone to Indapur on a weekend trip to meet his family. He left Indapur for Pune from where he was planning to go to Mumbai to attend the Tea Party arranged for the opposition party at Mantralaya. Since the monsoon session of the Assembly begins from today, the minister wanted to reach Mumbai for making preliminary preparations.
Courtesy visit
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan met his cabinet colleague cooperative minister Harshavardhan Patil and his wife in the hospital and enquired about their wellbeing. Emerging from the hospital after the visit, Chavan said, "I came to meet Patil as the accident was serious. Thankfully Patil and his wife suffered minor injuries."
(Inputs by Alifiya Khan and Vivek Sabnis)
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