BHUBANESWAR: A policeman was killed after being hit by a speeding SUV near Satsang Vihar in Bhubaneswar on Friday. But the rash driving did not stop here as the SUV hit another motorist before overturning near the Vani Vihar flyover.
Asit Kumar Mishra (55) of Sambalpur's Gainpura village was rushed to AIIMS-Bhubaneswar where doctors declared him dead. A constable at Ullunda police station in Sonepur district, he was on his way to State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) in Rasulgarh to submit the exhibits of a case when he met with the accident.
The SUV speeding towards Rasulgarh hit Mishra’s bullet near the end of the flyover. Such was the intensity of the collision that the iron barricade on the flyover was damaged and Mishra fell on the service road along with his two-wheeler. Apart from the driver, there were three other occupants in the SUV which also hit another motorist before overturning close to the spot.
The other injured motorist Rashmi Ranjan Behera of Kumbharapada in Puri district was rushed to AIIMS and his health condition is stable. While three occupants including the driver of the four-wheeler managed to flee, one was caught by locals on the spot and handed over to the police.
The detainee informed police that all four of them had their lunch at a roadside hotel at Khandagiri before proceeding to meet the officials of an educational institute in the city to discuss admission of a student. Police are questioning him to ascertain whether all of them were under the influence of alcohol when the accident took place.
The SUV, two-wheelers of the deceased and injured motorist have been seized. A case has been registered at Saheed Nagar police station under sections 279, 337, 338 and 304A of IPC and efforts are on to nab the other occupants of the four-wheeler.
No enforcement
A similar incident had taken place near the spot on June 16 this year when a truck hit a PCR van while it was going from Vani Vihar to Mancheswar. At least three personnel of Saheed Nagar police station’s PCR-5 were injured in the incident.
While the State Transport Authority (STA) has time and again asked RTOs to suspend driving license for three months for traffic offenses as per directions of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, enforcement against traffic violations is not being carried out robustly in the State.