Story Content

The Goa police made it clear-cut in one of the high-profile hit-and-run cases that took away the life of a single person on February 23, 2026, at Calangute Beach. Unlike rumors made through viral social media posts and the initial hypothesis that a young woman was in control, the officers reported that the driver was a 19-year-old male teenager.

The accident took place at 2.45 am, when a high-speed Mahindra Thar hit 42-year-old Santosh Naik, a Calangute resident walking by the Calangute-Baga road. Naik sustained severe injuries to the head, which led to his death on arrival in a nearby hospital. The driver of the Thar was escaping the crash right after the crash.

After a quick inquiry, Calangute police hunted the vehicle by the CCTV camera and number plate. The arrest of the 19-year-old, who lives at Mapusa, took place at the end of February 24 at his place of residence. That was recovered by the police with front-end damage that indicated the crash. The youth has been charged against parts of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on charges of rash driving and causing death by negligence and hit and run.

The authorities observed that there was no legitimate learner or permanent license for the powerful SUV by the accused. Early reports suggest there was going to be too much speed and distracted driving, which were some of the causes of the tragedy. The Goa police utilized an official response to dismantle misinformation of a gender-related nature that was proliferated on social media, calling upon the individuals to follow legitimate sources.

The case has restarted the debate on road safety, access to high-performance cars by underage drivers, and risks of late-night careless driving in tourist-saturated places such as North Goa. The accused is in custody, and the investigation is still in progress to find out whether the cause was alcohol or other causes. The family of Naik has put forward stringent punishment, and locals are urging that they increase enforcement of road laws during the most popular periods of the tourist seasons.