Getting a single digit in a number plate wrong was a mistake that possibly cost two young children their lives on Tuesday. An ailing Chandrakant Mohite, 37, drove off with his children Gauravi and Pratik on Tuesday evening after telling his brother he wanted to end it all. The Pune police who were relayed the number by the Ghatkopar cops, apparently took it down wrong and as a result, did not locate Mohite until it was too late.

Mohite, a driver with a call centre, was suffering from a serious ailment for two years. He used to have regular fights with his wife Kavita over this, which made him worry about his children's future in the event he died of it. On the evening of October 8, around 7.30 pm, Mohite left his home at Jagrut Nagar with Gauravi, 11, and Pratik, 7. Mohite called his brother Suryakant around 10pm and told him he was going to end everything forever and hung up.