Trio sitting around bonfire killed after being hit by SUV at Kolhapur city entrance

Kolhapur: Three men warming up around a bonfire died on the spot, and a fourth was injured after an SUV hit them at the Tawade hotel chowk bus stop, near the entrance to Kolhapur city, close to the Pune-Bengaluru national highway, around 5.30am on Thursday."Preliminary investigation suggests the SUV owner stepped on the accelerator instead of applying the brakes to avoid hitting another vehicle. In the process, the SUV veered off the road and hit the four men sitting around a bonfire alongside the highway," Shahupuri inspector Santosh Doke told TOI.He said the three men who died were flung into the air and thrown several feet away when hit by the SUV.The police have identified the deceased as Dilip Pawar (65), of Valivade Road in Gandhinagar, Sudhir Kamble (41), of Gharniki village of Sangli's Aatpadi, and Vinaysingh Gound (27), from Sindhi town in Madhya Pradesh. The injured man is Nawla Shelke, a 55-year-old from Dhankar Galli in Kolhapur's Kagal town. The police added the four men were transport and local workers.Mukesh Ahire, the 29-year-old SUV driver, has been arrested. The police said Ahire runs a catering business in Mumbai and is originally from Savarkheda in Jalgaon district. According to the police, Ahire was going from Kolhapur to Karad to pick up some of his employees.Local autorickshaw drivers informed the police about the accident and called ambulances. The autorickshaw drivers also apprehended the SUV driver and handed him over to the police."Relatives of the deceased have been informed about the accident. We will produce the accused before the court on Friday," added Doke.