Vinayak Mete killed in car crash on Mumbai-Pune expressway
Mumbai: Shiv Sangram Party leader and former member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council Vinayak Mete was killed after a vehicle hit his car on Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Sunday morning, officials said.
He was 52.
Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said the driver of Mete's SUV may have dozed off leading to the accident while Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant sought a probe questioning why Mete was called to attend a meeting (on Maratha quota) to Mumbai on short notice.
Mete, who remained at the forefront of the agitations in the past to demand reservations for the Maratha community, was coming to Mumbai from Beed to attend a meeting on the quota issue when his SUV met with the accident shortly after 5 AM.
Mete had headed a key committee executing the construction of a grand memorial for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea.
The accident took place at 5.05 am near Madap tunnel under the jurisdiction of Rasayani police station in the neighbouring Raigad district, the officials said.
Mete, another person, and his driver, were in the car while they were on their way to Mumbai from Beed.
A vehicle hit their car near the tunnel and all of them received serious injuries, an official said.
They were rushed to a private hospital in Navi Mumbai Mete was declared dead, he said.
A doctor who checked on Mete at the MGM Hospital in Panvel later told that Mete had died before he was brought to the hospital. "He was brought in at 6.20 am. He had no pulse or blood pressure, and his pupils were not moving. He died before being brought to the hospital. We even performed an ECG, but it showed a flat line (indicating no heart movement), the doctor said.
The former MLC hailed from the Beed district in the Marathwada region.
Mete is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.
Mete's close aide said the Shiv Sangram Party leader had to leave for Mumbai from his home district Beed, a distance of 400 km, on short notice to attend a meeting on Sunday to discuss the next steps regarding the Maratha reservation.
