Azad Maidan cop, suspended in drug case, was out with his family at a south Mumbai mall and trying to park his car in the basement when he crushed his wife between the vehicle and a concrete pillar
Sudhakar Sarang's battered car
The Tardeo police have booked a police sub-inspector of the Azad Maidan unit of the Anti-Narcotics Cell for accidentally knocking down his wife in the parking lot of a mall in south Mumbai. The incident occurred around 11.45 am on January 26, when the cop, Sudhakar Sarang, 53, had gone to the mall with his wife Smita and their children.
On the morning of January 26, Sudhakar and Smita, who reside in the Bandra Police Colony, had gone to the SoBo Central Mall in Tardeo with their daughter and son, both of whom are in their 20s. The family arrived at the mall around 11.45 am.
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The spot in the parking lot of the mall where the incident occurred. Pic/Bipin Kokate
Trying to park car
"The family arrived in a black Maruti Suzuki Swift. They took the parking receipt and went inside," said Yalraj Tandulkar, the parking supervisor at the mall, adding, "I was sitting in the cabin, and within five minutes of them going inside, I heard a loud thud followed by the cries of a girl and boy. I ran towards direction of the shouting. What I saw was horrifying."
Sudhakar was trying to park his car by putting it in reverse, during the attempt, his car scratched another one. He tried to park the car carefully once again, but this time, instead of putting the car in reverse he kept it in gear and raced it. The vehicle sped towards the pillar where Smita stood.
"Smita, an arthritis patient, was standing near the pillar with the help of her children. When the car came towards her in full speed, she couldn't move away and was caught between the vehicle's bonnet and the pillar," said a cop from the Tardeo Police station.
"She hit her head on the pillar, fell to the ground and began bleeding profusely," he added. When Tandulkar reached the spot, he saw a shocked Sudhakar yelling about what had just happened. The children, who were just as shocked, did not know what to do as their mother lay profusely bleeding. Tandulkar informed the mall's security officials. Smita was then taken to the Bhatia Hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival.
Not arrested yet
Meanwhile, Tardeo cops booked Sudhakar under sections 279 (rash driving) and 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code. "As per the preliminary investigations, there isn't any foul play, but we're probing the incident from all possible angles," said Sanjay Surve, senior inspector of Tardeo police station. Cops are yet to arrest accused.
Under suspension
Sudhakar Sarang had been put on suspension after being arrested with four others in May 2015 for allegedly having connections with drug peddler Baby Patankar. During probe, it was found that Sarang owned property amounting to '1-2 crore, which included flats and vehicles. He'd been put on suspension since.
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