A 41-year-old BMC employee was killed and his wife injured after a car allegedly rammed into their scooter at a junction in Khar (West) on Monday evening. Police have registered a case against former Army Brigadier and former MP Sudhir Sitaram Sawant, 71, who was driving the car.

Since the offences registered against him carry a punishment of less than two years, police served Sawant a notice instead of arresting him. Police said his blood pressure rose after the accident and his family admitted him to a hospital for treatment. Sawant lives in Khar and, according to police, was returning home from Dadar when the accident took place.

The deceased was identified as Iyappan Harijan, 41, who had been working with the BMC for about a year. His wife, Nancy, 37, suffered injuries and is undergoing treatment. The couple lived in Santacruz (West) with their two sons, aged 18 and 17.

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According to police, the couple left home around 4.15 pm to shop for a family function. Iyappan was riding the scooter and Nancy was travelling pillion. When they reached the junction of C D Road and 16th Road in Khar, a white Maruti Ertiga allegedly came from behind at high speed and hit their scooter.

The impact threw Nancy onto the road, while Iyappan fell underneath the car. The Ertiga then allegedly hit another scooter, throwing its rider, Rahul Ghanekar, onto the road. Ghanekar suffered injuries and fractured his arm, police said.

Passers-by pulled Iyappan from underneath the car. He had suffered serious injuries to his head and face and was bleeding. He and Nancy were taken to Bhabha Hospital in an autorickshaw. Iyappan was admitted but later died during treatment, police said.

The Khar police have seized the Ertiga, bearing registration number MH 01 ER 2822, and registered a case under Sections 106(1), 125(a), 125(b), 324(4) and 281 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act.

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Police said their preliminary investigation indicates that Sawant was driving at high speed and in a negligent manner when the accident occurred. The investigation is under way.

Sawant is a known political figure in Maharashtra and has had a career spanning the Army, Parliament and state politics.

A retired Brigadier of the Territorial Army, Sawant was commissioned into the Maratha Light Infantry in 1976. He served as a commando instructor at the Infantry School, in Jammu and Kashmir and Siachen, and later in Military Intelligence. He also served during Operation Vijay and Operation Parakram.

He entered electoral politics in 1991 when the Congress fielded him from the Rajapur Lok Sabha constituency in Konkan. Sawant defeated veteran socialist leader Madhu Dandavate and served as an MP from 1991 to 1996.

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He lost the Rajapur seat to Shiv Sena’s Suresh Prabhu in 1996.

Sawant subsequently remained active in politics and was appointed a Congress national secretary. He later joined Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party moving on to the Aam Aadmi Party and became its Maharashtra convenor before leaving the post. He subsequently moved to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and, in November 2024, joined the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray.