A late-night phone call shattered a family’s peace after a 24-year-old man, who had gone to sleep at his home in Ulwe, Navi Mumbai, was found dead several kilometres away on a Kurla road in what police suspect to be a hit-and-run accident.

The deceased has been identified as Rishikesh Mangesh Gaikwad, an engineer employed with a firm in Mahape. His uncle and legal guardian, Santosh Gaikwad, 45, said he had been caring for Rishikesh since childhood. “Rishikesh lost his parents at a very young age. His father, my brother Mangesh, was killed in a road accident at the same age as Rishikesh. The similarity is deeply painful for our family,” said Santosh, an advocate by profession.