COIMBATORE: A six-year-old minor girl studying in Class 1 was killed after being run over by a lorry in Coimbatore city on Friday.
The deceased has been identified as Niralya. She was a Class 1 student at a private school in Vellakkinar near Thudiyalur.
On Friday morning around 8 am, Divya was taking her daughter to school on a two-wheeler. When they were riding through the Cheran Colony area on the Thudiyalur-Saravanampatti road, a lorry that was behind them slightly brushed the bike while overtaking, causing Divya to lose control of her scooter, veer off the road, and fall after hitting the sign board of a Xerox shop. Both mother and daughter fell on opposite sides. Niralya, who fell on the road, was run over by the lorry and died on the spot, said police.
In this case, police arrested the driver of the lorry along with the owner of the shop located at the accident scene, as the he had allegedly placed his shop's sign board on the road, hindering traffic. After being sidelined by the lorry, Divya lost control and slipped on the road in an attempt to avoid hitting the sign board. But the situation turned worse as the mother fell on the left, and Niralya fell onto oncoming traffic and went under the wheel of the lorry, said police.
On receiving information, personnel from the Coimbatore Traffic Investigation Wing (TIW-West) rushed to the spot. They recovered the girl's body and sent it to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for postmortem.
Following the investigation, the TIW-West police have arrested two persons — the lorry driver Marimuthu (52) of Namakkal district, and Vijayan, the shop owner. The case was registered under Sections 281 (Rash driving or riding on a public way), 105 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 283 (Exhibition of false light, mark or buoy) of the BNS Act; further investigation was on, said police.