Mumbai, Feb 29 (IANS): The former head of software giant Intel, Avtar Saini died after he was knocked down by a speeding cab when he was out cycling in Navi Mumbai, officials said.

The incident happened around dawn on Wednesday. The police said that Saini, 68, living in Chembur, was cycling along the Palm Beach Road of Nerul along with a group of cycling enthusiasts, when a cab speeding on the road rammed into him from behind with full force, knocking him and injuring him, before trying to escape.

The tragedy took place around 5.50 a.m. near the Nerul Junction and the Seawoods Estate signal, and he was rushed to the nearby D.Y. Patil Hospital but pronounced dead on admission.

His co-cyclists told the police that after the cab hit him, Avtar Saini was flung away on the road and sustained severe injuries that proved fatal.

Soon after the accident, the cab driver Hrishikesh Khade attempted to flee the spot and drove the cab for nearly a km, but failed to go further as Saini’s cycle had got stuck under the car’s front wheels.

He was caught by other motorists nearby and handed over to the NRI Coastal Police Station, which lodged an FIR and slapped with various charges, including rash driving, stringent culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

According to his friends and former colleagues, Avtar Saini was an acclaimed chip designer and credited with the development of Intel 386 and 486 microprocessors and led to the design of the Pentium processor.

A member of the Chembur Amateur Cycling Group for a decade, Avtar Saini’s wife passed away three years ago and he is survived by a son and a daughter, who live in the US.

His former colleagues and Intel India President Gokul V. Subramaniam paid a warm tribute to Avtar Saini on social media recalling his services as the former Country Manager and Director, Intel South Asia, who played a key role in setting up the Intel R&D Center in India, and in an illustrious career wit Intel from 1982-2004, he was instrumental in designing several processors.

Avtar Saini joins the growing list of prominent persons or billionaires who perished in tragic accidents in recent times.

Wagh Bakri chief Parag Desai was reportedly attacked by strays in Ahmedabad, a tech firm CEO Rajalakshmi Vijay was killed while cycling at Worli in Mumbai, Vistex CEO Sanjay Shah killed in Hyderabad, while tycoon Cyrus Mistry was killed in a road crash in Palghar, Maharashtra.