3 IIT-Bombay students killed in Mumbai-Pune Expressway crash while returning from Lonavla

• Three IIT-Bombay students died in a car crash near Panvel exit
• Car rear-ended a truck, flipped, and hit safety railing
• Police registered FIR against truck driver for rash driving

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Three students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-Bombay), lost their lives on Thursday when the car they were travelling in rear-ended a truck on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, flipped multiple times and smashed into the safety railing — just before the Panvel exit — as they were returning from a spontaneous sunrise trip to Lonavla, TOI reported.

The deceased were identified as Omkumar Borse (23), a third-year aerospace engineering student from Nashik; Lay Deshbhratar (20), a third-year physics student from Nagpur; and Shreyansh Sharma (22), a fourth-year mechanical engineering student from Jaipur. The car was completely crushed in the impact.

The truck driver, who has not been identified, fled the scene. Police have since registered an FIR against him for rash and negligent driving causing death.

According to report, citing senior Panvel taluka police inspector Gajanan Ghadge, the group of six students — Borse, Sharma, Deshbhratar, Hitesh Meena, Soham Chavan and Siddhant Jebal — had spent the night watching films until 4 am before deciding on an impromptu drive to Lonavla to catch the sunrise. They left in three separate cars, with Borse at the wheel of the ill-fated vehicle alongside Sharma and Deshbhratar; Chavan and Jebal in a second car; and Meena alone in the third.

Citing Meena's police statement, Ghadge told TOI that as the group neared the 10.7-km mark ahead of the Panvel exit on their return journey, Borse attempted to overtake a truck travelling in the extreme left lane. He lost control, rammed into the vehicle and the car subsequently flipped multiple times before striking the safety railing. All three occupants sustained severe injuries and were rushed to a private hospital in Navi Mumbai, where they were declared brought dead on arrival.

Police have prima facie ruled out drunk driving, though they are awaiting autopsy reports. Officials from the Regional Transport Office have already inspected the wreckage and their report is expected to establish whether the students had been wearing seatbelts and whether the vehicle was speeding at the time. Crime inspector Anand Kamble told TOI that the report would also help determine whether the airbags had deployed.

Kamble added that CCTV footage from the accident site had been sought from IRB Infrastructure, which operates and maintains the expressway. However, the agency informed police that the camera nearest to the crash location was defunct, leaving investigators to rely primarily on eyewitness accounts and the RTO inspection findings. Ghadge noted that footage, if recovered from any functional camera nearby, could help establish the exact sequence of events.

Among those mourning the loss was the family of Shreyansh Sharma, who was remembered by fellow students as a popular campus figure who had contested the institute's general secretary elections. His brother told TOI that Sharma had aspired to join the Indian Administrative Service after completing his engineering degree.

Omkumar Borse, meanwhile, had secured a state rank in his Class 10 examinations and finished third in a state-level mathematics scholarship exam, according to his social media profile.