Mumbai, Sept. 16 -- A motor accident claims tribunal (MACT) on Tuesday allowed a compensation claim filed by the mother of a man crushed to death by a truck in Malad in 2022 to proceed, despite the insurer arguing that it was filed too late. The tribunal said the claim could not be viewed separately from the "exceptional history" of the police investigation, which the Bombay High Court had earlier found to be "grossly callous". Aman Pawan Jha, 29, was riding a scooter on New Link Road in Malad on August 17, 2022, when he was struck from behind by a speeding truck and run over. The Bangur Nagar police registered a case the same day but made little headway. Fourteen months later, in October 2023, the police filed a closure report before a magistrate, having failed to identify the truck, its owner, and the driver. In June 2024, Jha's mother, Babita Jha, moved the high court, seeking an order directing the police to complete the probe and file a charge sheet. In August 2025, a bench of justices Ravindra Ghuge and Gautam Ankhad recorded its "displeasure" with the police's investigation. It said that photographs of the truck produced by the police that year were "an eyewash", intended to suggest that an investigation had been carried out when there had been none. Days later, the police told the court that they had finally identified the truck, its owner and the driver. They said they had done so by comparing e-challans issued on the day of the accident and tracking the vehicle's entry into Mumbai. The court questioned why this method had not been used earlier, saying there was "no explanation" for the three-year delay. In its judgment on September 3, 2025, the high court held that the delay in the investigation had "caused immense prejudice" to Jha. It directed that the criminal trial be completed within a year and, crucially for the case now before the tribunal, ruled that time spent in the high court and trial court be excluded when calculating the limitation for any compensation claim. That direction proved decisive on Tuesday....