Overloaded Truck Collides with Mini-van, Kills Driver

CHENNAI: A 23-year-old driver was crushed to death when his mini pick-up truck was hit by  an overloaded truck on Flag Staff Road in the wee hours on Monday.

Police said the mini truck, ferrying paper bundles from a printing unit in Taramani to Ponneri, was on a routine trip when the mishap occurred.

The victim, Aravind, of Kattur near Ponneri, was passing through the war memorial on Flag Staff Road when a lorry laden with crushed stone from Andhra Pradesh collided with the truck crushing both him and the vehicle. The vehicle ran amok and came to a halt after hitting a tree.

A team of police personnel, with Elephant Gate Traffic Investigation inspector Selvakumar recovered the body and moved it to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH).

Meanwhile, driver of the lorry, S Jothi (49), of Pitchattur village, abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene. Since the lorry was overloaded, carrying close to 30 tonnes of blue metal, which the cops claimed was beyond the permissible level, the lorry could be removed after hours of ordeal at around 8.30 am.

A case  was registered and Jothi was arrested after a manhunt and remanded to judicial custody.

Car Kills Man

A 53-year-old watchman of Shantham Apartment in Shanthi Colony, Anna Nagar, was killed by a car that he was guiding while it was reversing out of the apartment complex on Monday evening.

Police said Lakshmi Narasimman sought Moorthy (53), the security guard’s help, while reversing the car. Moorthy was guiding Narasimhan when the latter lost control of the vehicle  and knocked him down with the car running over his legs. The car climbed over the median and overturned with Lakshmi Narayanan pinned under the car suffering multiple injuries.

Grievously injured, Moorthy was rushed to Kilpauk Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him ‘brought dead’.