Surat: In a tragic incident late Thursday night, a 15-year-old boy driving a sedan at high speed crashed into a motorcycle after jumping the divider, resulting in one death and critical injuries to his friend on the Pal-Umra bridge.

According to police, four teenage friends from Rander, all aged between 14 and 15, set out from Pal to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Institute of Technology (SVNIT). The young driver took the car without notifying anyone in his family. At approximately 12:30 a.m., he lost control of the vehicle, jumped the divider, and collided with two individuals on a motorcycle.

Chintan Malaviya, who was riding the bike, died instantly, while his friend Parth Mehta is in critical condition in the ICU of a private hospital. Malaviya, 44, was a sales manager at a private company, and his brother, Dr. Himanshu, is employed at a prominent private hospital in the city.

The force of the collision was so intense that the car overturned and skidded after striking the motorcycle, damaging another vehicle in the process. The teenage driver lives with his mother in Rander, while his father works for a private import-export company in Visakhapatnam. Following a complaint filed by Dr. Himanshu, the Pal police have booked the young driver for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, as well as reckless and negligent driving that endangered lives.

In the crash, the boy driving the car also sustained injuries and was transported to the hospital in an ambulance along with another friend, while the other two boys escaped.

Police investigations revealed that the car belonged to the teenager’s elder brother, who was in Delhi at the time. He hurried to Surat upon learning of the accident, as he is the registered owner of the vehicle. Pal police inspector KL Gaadhe stated that the accused will be arrested after he recovers from his injuries. DeshGujarat