The incident occurred at Chandani Chowk on the Mumbai-Bengaluru Highway around 1:15 am when the trio, all the residents of Bavdhan area, were headed towards a hotel.
The deceased are identified as Vipul Raj Singh, Aman Raj, and Ashwin Agarwal--all students of different post-graduate courses.
"The trio hailed from Patna in Bihar," a Hinjewadi police station official said.
He said Singh apparently failed to spot the tempo due to darkness and hit it from behind.
"We have booked the driver of the tempo, Shiva Rathod, who had parked the vehicle on the road," the official said.
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