KRISHNAGIRI: Three people, including a minor boy, died on the spot and seven were injured in a multi-vehicle collision near Gurubarapalli on Sunday evening. The deceased were identified as S Anwar Basha (30), an electrician and his son Hasim (7) of Bargur and B Barkatullah (63) of Krishnagiri.
According to police, around 4.30 pm, a TNSTC bus heading to Dharmapuri from Hosur had to halt near Gurubarapalli bus stop due to ongoing road work. This led to a block with several vehicles —four cars, a motorcycle, two load vehicles—queueing up behind the bus.
At the time, a flour goods-laden lorry from Bengaluru heading to Tiruchy, driven by R Purushothaman (59) of Cuddalore, arrived at the spot. Purushothaman allegedly put the vehicle on neutral gear (a practice done to save fuel), due to which the lorry dashed forward in the sloping road, resulting in the vehicle pile-up. Anwar Basha and his son, who were travelling from Bengaluru to Bargur on a bike with his wife and daughter, were killed on the spot.
The bodies of the deceased were taken to the Government Krishnagiri Medical College Hospital for autopsy. The injured were also admitted here. Following the accident, Krishnagiri Collector C Dinesh Kumar and Superintendent of Police P Thangadurai rushed to the spot and regulated the traffic. Due to the accident, traffic was affected for more than an hour.
Over 40 people staged a protest near Gurubarapalli, urging the NHAI to complete the road work as soon as possible. Collector C Dinesh Kumar pacified the protestors, following which they dispersed. He further assured that an inspection will be conducted with police, revenue, NHA to reduce accidents near Gurubarapalli. Gurubarapalli police are probing the matter.
The injured are S Basanth (56) of West Bengal, his wife Usha Agarwal (50), J Jayachitra (41), her father A Mani (65) of Tiruvannamalai, R Karthik (32) of Bengaluru, A Samiya (5) and her mother Asma Parveen (26) of Bargur.