CHENNAI: A six-year-old girl and her aunt walking on a footpath were killed by a speeding car driven by an engineering college student at Ayanavaram here. The accident occurred on Tuesday 4.30 pm on Konnur High Road and both the victims succumbed to severe injuries on Wednesday night. Police said Vijayalakshmi, 22, was bringing home her cousin Srinivasalu’s two children from school, and was walking on the footpath when the car driven by one Saran rammed on them.
“He was driving at a high speed and tried to overtake a bus when he lost control of the vehicle,” said a police officer. While Vijayalakshmi and child Bindu were severely injured, the other child Monish, 8, escaped since he was walking a little ahead of them. Locals who witnessed the accident nabbed Saran and allegedly thrashed him and damaged his car, police said.
A police team rescued Saran and arranged to send the two injured to a hospital. Bindu and Vijayalakshmi succumbed to injuries on Wednesday night. Saran, 21, son of a builder, was a student of an engineering college here. He has been booked under charges of causing death due to negligence.
“The place where the accident occurred is close to a street junction. Had there been a speed breaker, the accident could had been prevented, said a relative of Vijayalakshmi, who was waiting outside the Rajiv Government General Hospital mortuary. Daily, the children’s mother Anitha Devi would pick up them from school, but on Tuesday she asked Vijayalakshmi to do it since she had some other work in the evening. The family staged a protest after the accident demanding action against the car driver. Police said he also suffered injuries in the attack by locals and undergoing treatment in a hospital.