Maratha quota supporter ex-MLC Vinayak Mete dies in accident on Mumbai-Pune Expressway

Mumbai: Shiv Sangram party leader and former member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council Vinayak Mete died when a vehicle hit his car on Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Sunday morning, an official said.

He was 52.

Mete was a staunch supporter of reservation for the Maratha community.

The accident took place around 5.15 am near Madap tunnel under the jurisdiction of Rasayani police station in neighbouring Raigad district, he said.

Mete, another person and his driver were in the car while they on way to Mumbai from Pune, he said.

A vehicle hit their car near the Madap tunnel and all of them received serious injuries, the official said.

They were rushed to private hospital at Kamothe in Navi Mumbai where Mete was declared dead, he said.

The former MLC, who hailed from Beed district of Marathwada region, was a supporter of Maratha reservation.

He was heading towards Mumbai to attend a meeting.

Maharashtra minister and former state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said Mete's death came as a shock to them.

"He was genuinely following up the issue of Maratha reservation. It is a huge loss for us and the Maratha community,” Patil said.

In 2008, Mete and some other activists of his outfit had attacked the Thane-based residence of Kumar Ketkar, the then editor of a Marathi daily, to protest an editorial in the newspaper against the then state government's decision to install a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Mahraj in the Arabian Sea.