Mid-Day

Mumbai, Jun 14: Traffic constable Dilip Indulkar caused the death of cyclist Raju Makasare (32) at 11.30 am on Monday, under the flyover bridge near Dadar TT circle.

Eyewitness Piyush Dedhiya (30) said, “I was travelling in my car and the cyclist was next to me.

Suddenly, the constable walked out to the middle of the road and motioned for someone to stop. At first, I thought he was looking at me, but he was actually trying to stop the cyclist. In his attempt to stop him, he pushed the cyclist, who fell off his bike and was run over by a bus.”

Dedhiya said that when he went to confront Indulkar, he replied “Ja na apna kaam kar aur gaadi side mein laga. Mujhe mera kaam mat sikha.”

The Matunga police have registered an FIR against the constable, based on Dedhiya’s complaint. Inspector Somnath Ghuge of Matunga police station said, “The constable has denied pushing the man. We are investigating the matter and have booked both the BEST driver and the constable.”

Dedhiya said that that there were two more constables, Ramesh Shinde and S Mane, at the spot when the incident happened, but neither tried to help the cyclist. “The two just stood there. Instead of helping him, they watched him die. The man was lying there for 20 minutes, after which a wireless van came and took him to the hospital,” he said.

Another eyewitness, Rustom Batliwala (56), said, “I saw the two constables escorting the accused constable from the site. When I questioned them, they said, ‘We have his batch number and everything, we will do the necessary things, don’t teach us our job’.”

‘Was an accident’

After the incident, Indulkar went to Matunga police station. “I was trying to stop the cyclist as I suspected he was carrying something illegal. He accidentally got pushed and met with an accident,” said Indulkar.

Makasare, who worked as a delivery boy, is survived by his wife Vandana and two children, Varsha (4) and Tushar (2).