The tanker driver, a 38-year-old resident of Dehu Road, is currently in police custody. (Credits: Pexels/ Representational)Dayanand Lature remembers what his elder brother, Ravindra, was looking forward to. A trip back home to Latur to meet their parents and a pilgrimage to Tirupati, a vow Ravindra had made before the birth of his younger child, praying the baby would be healthy. And a chance, finally, to breathe easy after years of difficulty.“Things were gradually settling. He had started focusing on his career again. And now, suddenly, everything is over,” Dayanand said.On Saturday evening, around 5:35 pm, Ravindra Lature, a 36-year-old IT professional working at Stellantis IT firm in Viman Nagar, stepped out for a routine task: a visit to a laundry near his home in Ravet, but he never returned.Rash driving“While returning, Ravindra’s motorcycle collided with another two-wheeler near Renuka Gloria Society. He lost his balance and fell on the road. A water tanker coming from the opposite direction, driven at high speed, ran over him before he could get up. He was killed on the spot,” Dayanand explained.“Even the CCTV footage shows that the tanker was moving so fast and so rashly that Ravindra lost his life within 30 seconds,” Dayanand added.The tanker driver, a 38-year-old resident of Dehu Road, is currently in police custody. Sub-Inspector Rahul Khile, the investigating officer at Ravet police station, confirmed that CCTV footage from the spot has been recovered. “We have asked for the tanker’s fitness certificate, but it is yet to be received. We are further investigating the case,” he said.The Ravet police have registered a case under Section 106(1) and Section 281 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, covering death by negligent driving and rash driving endangering human life, as well as Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which penalises dangerous driving, including overspeeding.Story continues below this adInnocent life lostDayanand, also an IT professional who works at TCS, filed the complaint with the police while struggling to make sense of what happened. He said, “If the tanker driver had been going slow, he would have easily managed to brake or swerve; it might have been a minor accident at most. But his overspeeding and blatant disregard for traffic norms have now claimed an innocent life.”He also pointed to where the accident took place. “This is a residential area. There is even a school nearby. Despite all that, he was driving so dangerously.”Ravindra, who hails from Devni taluka in Latur district, leaves behind his wife, a three-year-old daughter, and a seven-month-old son. His wife had left her job to manage the household.The family had already been through considerable hardship. “Ravindra’s first child was born prematurely in the seventh month, and the couple had spent anxious months nursing the baby through those early days. It was only recently that life had begun to feel stable again,” said Dayanand.Story continues below this ad“He had made a vow before his second child’s birth, praying for the baby to be healthy, and was planning to go to Tirupati to fulfil that. He was preparing for the trip,” Dayanand said. “He had vacation plans to visit our parents in Latur, too.”The family is now demanding accountability, not just for this case, but for a broader pattern they believe is being ignored. “Our demand is that strict action be taken against the guilty, and that police properly monitor whether these water tankers have valid documentation and fitness certificates,” Dayanand said.One of five this monthRavindra’s death is not an isolated incident. It is the fifth fatality involving a water tanker in Pune in April alone.The same day of this accident, a 47-year-old hotelier was killed on Bibwewadi-Kondhwa Road after a water tanker struck his motorcycle. On April 16, a 43-year-old man died after being run over by a tanker in Hadapsar. Two youngsters lost their lives in separate tanker-related accidents on April 3 and April 5, in Mohammadwadi and Wanowrie, respectively.Shubham Kurale is a journalist based in Pune and has studied journalism at the Ranade Institute. He primarily reports on transport and is interested in covering civic issues, sports, gig workers, environmental issues, and queer issues. X:@ShubhamKurale1 ... Read MoreClick here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:accidental deathpune