Maha boy killed while on cycling pilgrimage to Pandharpur

An 8-year-old boy participating in a 360-kilometre Nashik to Pandharpur "cycle wari" was Friday killed after being run over by a truck near Sinnar Bypass in the district, police said.

An official identified the child as Prem Sachin Nifade and said his parents were part of the cycle-wari organised by the Nashik Cyclists Foundation.

Wari is a pilgrimage, done mostly by foot, to Pandharpur, a holy town venerated as the seat of Lord Vithoba.

"The accident happened on the Nashik-Pune highway in the morning. The truck first hit the cycle and the impact brought the child under its rear wheels. He was rushed to a hospital but died en route," the official said.

He said the truck driver, identified as Krishna Baban Raut (49), has been arrested.

Cycle-wari, an initiative to make the pilgrimage to Pandharpur on bicycles instead of foot, has been organised by the NCF for the past eight years.

An organiser said most of the participants returned here following the accident, adding that the NCF had decided to not allow those younger than 16 years to take part in the future.