New Delhi: Jyoti Mete, wife of Shiv Sangram Party leader Vinayak Mete killed in a car accident, claimed on Monday that he had died two hours before being shifted to a hospital in Navi Mumbai and demanded a probe into the “time lag”.
Jyoti Mete said that something was being hidden about the exact time of the accident and the time of death that took place on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Sunday morning as told by the officials.
52-year-old Mete died when his car on his way to Mumbai collided with a truck from behind on the expressway near Madap tunnel in Raigad district. He was on his way to Mumbai from his home district Beed to attend a meeting called by the state government regarding Maratha reservation.
A former MLC, he was cremated with state honors on Monday afternoon.
Jyoti Mete said the exact cause and time of her husband’s death would be revealed in the postmortem report.
“As a doctor, I understood that something was amiss on seeing his body in Kamothe’s hospital. According to medical science, immediately after the death of a person, his face does not turn white. When I saw Mete Saheb’s body, his face had turned white. Blood was coming out of his nose and ears,” she told a news channel.
Jyoti Mete said she told her brother that the accident had not happened 45 minutes earlier, as reported by officials on Sunday.
“The accident and death must have happened at least two hours before (when he saw the body). Something was being hidden from us. The time of accident is being reported and the actual time of death needs to be investigated.
Jyoti Mete said that social issues are more important for her husband than politics.
“I think it was the social cause that would have killed him,” she said.
A doctor who examined Vinayak Mete at MGM Hospital on Sunday told reporters that the Shiv Sangram Party leader had died before being brought to the hospital.
“He was brought at 6.20 am. He had no pulse or blood pressure, and his pupils were not moving. He died before being brought to the hospital. We also did an ECG (electrocardiogram) but it was showing a flat line (indicating no heart rate), ? The doctor had said.
Mete’s driver Eknath Kadam had told the police that he did not get any help for about an hour after the accident and the vehicles plying on the expressway did not stop.
Kadam suffered minor injuries in the incident, while Mete’s police bodyguard was seriously injured.
However, the Highway Police had rejected the claim of the driver. Police reached the spot within seven minutes of getting information about the accident, he said.
On Sunday, Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Arvind Sawant demanded a thorough probe into Mete’s death in a road accident.
“Despite the recent political developments in Maharashtra, Mete never uttered a word. Then why was he suddenly called for the meeting (in Mumbai)? Who called him?” he asked.
Dilip Patil and Absaheb Patil, who represent various Maratha groups supporting the quota demand for the community, also raised doubts over Mete being suddenly called to Mumbai for a meeting.