CHENNAI: A young woman techie at the wheel of a luxury car, suspected to have been driving in inebriated condition, hit a 45-year-old carpenter, killing him on the spot on IT Corridor in the early hours of Saturday. The occupants of the speeding car, while trying to flee the scene, were chased down by public in a filmy style before police came in.
The deceased Munusamy was hired to shift the belongings of a house. On Saturday, he had set out from his house early along with two others and was waiting at LB road junction to cross to the other side of the road at around 4.30 am when the Audi driven by a woman IT professional Ayshwarya, working in a firm in Porur, mowed him down. He was flung to a considerable distance on the impact, police said he died on the spot.
The car was cornered by two tempo drivers near SRP Tools junction. A police patrol party arrived at the scene soon and took them away. Other than main accused Ayshwarya, who was driving the car, there were two other women occupants in the vehicle.
Police say the other two occupants included another techie and a PhD student. The three were on the way to Karappakam to pick up another friend of theirs.
Police sources said they suspected the driver to have been under the influence of alcohol – she was sent for testing alcohol content in her body, results of which is awaited.
The driver is the daughter of Wilton Rollance, a insurance surveyor. A case under section 304 (II) - culpable homicide not amounting to murder and section 185 of Motor Vehicles Act (drunk driving) of Indian Penal Code has been registered at the Guindy traffic investigation wing. Ayshwarya was produced before a local magistrate and remanded to the Puzhal prison.
The complaint was lodged by Saravanan, who was just metres away from Munusamy, when the car said to have been driven at a speed of more than 100 KMPH, mowed down his companion.
Speaking to Express, Saravanan said, "We were waiting to cross the road and I stepped out to relieve myself. In the next few seconds, a car came from no where and flung Munusamy into air. The driver didn't even bother to stop and sped away. But, thanks to few tempo vehicle drivers who were nearby, the car was chased down."
Munusamy, residing in a small rented house near Taramani, is survived by his wife Govindammal and two young children. At their residence, the wife is inconsolable and struggles with the thought of leading life without her husband, who was the main source of income for the family.
"The family is in dire financial condition and this unexpected incident has spread a pale of gloom all over us. They have been surviving on the daily meagre earnings that the couple makes out of coolie work. His wife has been crying ever since news of the incident was informed to her," said A Santhi, Munusamy's sister