MANGALURU: An auto driver lost his life after his autorickshaw fell into an open overflowing drain due to heavy rain near Kottara in Mangaluru on Friday night. The deceased has been identified as Deepak Acharya (42), a resident of the Kulur Ferry road.
According to the police, the incident occurred near Yamuna Paradise apartment in Kottara where the auto fell into the drain and the auto driver drowned in the overflowing ditch.
Meanwhile, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) officials have been booked under section 304A (Causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.
The victim's sister Hemalatha, in a complaint to the city police, said that Deepak was running an auto rickshaw owned by one Baptist George Pereira and on Friday afternoon, he left home at around 1pm after lunch and did not return until midnight. She received a call informing her about his death.
Hemalatha has accused the MCC officials of negligence in her brother's death and said the incident took place as the drain was not cleaned on time, thereby getting choked with garbage and rainwater overflowing into the road.
She also said that sewer water was overflowing on the road and her brother could not notice it and the local administration had not constructed a retaining wall also to avoid such mishaps.