‘I had asked him not to go’: Pune friends’ Mahabaleshwar trip ends in tragedy as 4 killed in Satara accident

Dhirendra Thakur, father of one of the four friends who died in a road accident on the Pune-Satara highway, revealed that he had asked his 19-year-old son, Sonu Singh, not to go on the trip. Sonu, a mobile phone accessories and repair shop owner, had expressed his desire to work hard, settle down, and get married within the next two years.

Instead, his family was informed of his death just four hours after he left home. The four victims - Sonu Singh, Vedant Arjun Waringe, Aditya Balasaheb Garud, and Nikhil Balu Raut - were all residents of Maval taluka and lost their lives when their SUV lost control, hit a divider, overturned, and crashed into a truck on the Pune-Satara lane of National Highway-48 around 1.10 am on Tuesday.

Sonu's close friend and business partner, Rohan Chaudhary, recounted that the group initially planned to visit Matheran to celebrate their friend Viraj Shelke's birthday but changed their destination to Mahabaleshwar as it was already late in the evening. The accident, which may have been caused by overspeeding, is currently under investigation by the police.