LUCKNOW: A six-year-old boy was killed and five others, including two women, were injured after a Swift Dzire car allegedly driven by a minor Class 12 student rammed into pedestrians in the Banthara area of Lucknow on Thursday evening.
The victim, identified as Dikshant Patel, was walking with his mother and grandmother when the car first hit an auto-rickshaw and then ploughed into pedestrians near a Hanuman temple under the Banthara police station limits. Dikshant suffered a severe head injury and later succumbed during treatment. CCTV footage of the hit-and-run has surfaced, and the police have detained the driver and seized the vehicle.
The injured include Dikshant's mother Sadhna (35), grandmother Meena Devi (60), both residents of Unnao, and three others, Arman (12), Pramod Kumar and Awadh Bihari (42).
A case has been registered under sections related to rash and negligent driving, among other charges. “The driver has claimed that the accident occurred after one of the car’s tyres burst. The vehicle belongs to his friend. We have detained the driver and seized the car,” said Rajnish Sharma, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Lucknow.
According to preliminary inquiries, the accused had attended a farewell function earlier in the day at his school, Avadh Collegiate, and had borrowed a friend’s car to travel there. After the event, he set out for home with four schoolmates, dropping three of them off before the accident occurred while he was on his way to drop the fourth.
Police said the girl passenger got out of the car immediately after the incident and was later detained after locals handed her over to the police. The accused allegedly attempted to flee, abandoning the vehicle and escaping with a friend, but was later tracked down and taken into custody.
The incident comes close on the heels of a recent Lamborghini crash case in Kanpur, again raising concerns over minors driving vehicles and road safety enforcement.
