BHUBANESWAR: Police on Thursday arrested a 48-year-old man for allegedly driving his car in an intoxicated condition and running the vehicle over an auto-rickshaw passenger, injuring him grievously.
Police said accused Prakash Chandra Pangari was drunk and driving on the wrong side of the road when he rammed his car into an auto-rickshaw, throwing its driver Paramananda Sahu and a passenger Jayanta Mahapatra off the vehicle.
The incident occurred at around 9 pm on Wednesday in Mancheswar Railway Colony. However, instead of stopping, Pangari ran the vehicle over Mahapatra, who was lying on the road, leaving him seriously injured. Police said the accused then fled towards Damana Square where locals intercepted his vehicle for rash driving. They also vandalised Pangari’s vehicle before Chandrasekharpur police arrived and detained him. The video of the incident went viral on the day.
During the breath analyser test, police found Pangari’s blood alcohol level to be 231 mg, which was far more than the legal limit. While Chandrasekharpur police registered a case against him for drunk driving, Mancheswar police booked him under various sections of BNS, including attempt to murder for running the vehicle over Mahapatra.
“After the incident, Mahapatra was shifted to a hospital. Pangari was arrested on charges of attempt to murder and further probe is underway,” said a police officer.
