Overview
- Police confirm eight fatalities and more than a dozen injuries after a multi‑vehicle collision and fire on the Pune–Bengaluru highway near Navale Bridge.
- Preliminary findings point to suspected brake failure on the Katraj descent and a heavily loaded container truck, with a CNG‑fueled car crushed between two trucks worsening the blaze.
- Pune police registered an FIR for culpable homicide and motor‑vehicle offences against the deceased driver Rustam Khan, cleaner Mushtaq Khan, and truck owner Tahir Nasir Khan, with overloading under probe.
- Authorities announced immediate steps including brake and load checks near Khed Shivapur, added rumblers, stricter speed enforcement, route diversions, and a Saturday multi‑agency review.
- The site is a documented ‘black spot,’ and officials cited a proposed 32‑km elevated corridor with a DPR approved in principle, estimated at about ₹6,000 crore, as the longer‑term fix.