HYDERABAD: Birthday shopping turned fatal for a 28-year-old woman while her nephew sustained injuries when a speeding SUV leapt on to their scooter at Petbasheerabad of Cyberabad commissionerate in the city late on Tuesday night.
The incident happened when the driver of the SUV travelling on the National highway, lost control over the vehicle and went off the road and jumped on the service road, crashing into six other vehicles and then the scooter of the victims, said police officials.
The occupants of the SUV fled from the spot. It was found they were engineering students from Alwal. The victim was identified as Udayagiri Sridevi.
The accident happened at around 7.55 pm and the patrolling vehicle arrived at the spot in 6 minutes and rushed the victim to a nearby hospital. M Mahesh Inspector Petbasheerabad said a case under section 304-II of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) is registered against the person who was driving the SUV. Inquiries revealed that the vehicle was hired from a rental agency.
“We are also probing if the agency had collected necessary documents from the driver before renting out the vehicle. A hunt is on to nab the driver,” said Mahesh.
Sridevi hailing from Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, along with her husband Ganesh who is working for a private college, and 18-month-old son Nikhileshwarnath, was residing at Dulapally.
Thursday, August 1, being Sridevi’s birthday, she wanted to go shopping. As Ganesh was taking care of their child at home, Sridevi set out with Ganesh’s elder brother’s son Kedarnath on their scooter. After shopping, they started home. Kedarnath was riding and Sridevi was pillion riding and they were travelling in the service road towards Kompally, abutting the Hyderabad- Nagpur national highway.
Meanwhile, an SUV AP 09CM 4366, entered the highway at Jeedimetla X roads. The vehicle took a U-turn and entered the highway. As the vehicle was at high speed, the driver lost control on the vehicle and the vehicle swerved towards left and went off the road. The vehicle jumped into the low lying area beside the road and then leapt off into the service road.
“There it crashed into at least six parked cars and then rammed into the scooter, the victims were travelling. Sridevi died undergoing treatment, while Kedarnath suffered a fracture in the leg and is undergoing treatment,” said M Mahesh.
Eyewitnesses told police that there were two persons in the vehicle and they fled immediately after the accident. From the rental agency, police found two engineering students have rented the SUV and were on their way to Charminar for a friend’s birthday. The case is under investigation.