Social activist's death in Thane hit-and-run case: Private bus driver arrested

Thane, Jan 24 (PTI) A private bus driver was arrested on Friday for allegedly running over social activist Pushpa Agashe a day earlier in Thane, a police official said.

Agashe (73) was returning from her morning walk on Thursday when a vehicle hit her at Teen Hath Naka in Naupada area here. She was taken to the hospital and was declared dead on arrival.

"Private bus driver Mohammad Shahabuddin Shaikh was arrested under sections 106(1) (causing death by negligence), 281 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and also provisions of Motor Vehicles Act," the official said.

Shaikh (59) was held after CCTV footage of the area was checked, the Naupada police station official added.

Agashe, who worked for 28 years with the Department of Atomic Energy and had received DAE's best employee award for 2008, was involved in several social causes.

She was working for awareness about eye donation since 1981 with her husband Shreepad Agashe. She was also actively involved in promoting organ donation, skin donation and body donation.

On retirement, she devoted her energy to helping blind students. Over the last decade, she was active in the drive to reuse plastic waste and limiting plastic use.

She was also involved in looking after abandoned children. She was an active member of the widely successful “Dhanya Bank” which supports under privileged people with food grains. PTI COR BNM