CHENNAI: A 70-year-old man and a 20-year-old student died and five others were injured after a car ploughed through a group of people standing near a supermarket in Anna Nagar early on Monday. While the accused, suspected to have been driving the car under the influence of alcohol, was nabbed by onlookers, another person travelling with him fled the spot, police said.
The deceased were identified as C Nagasundaram, 74, of Tiruvallur district, who was working as a private security guard, and G Vijay Yadav, 20, of Maharashtra, who was pursuing second-year nautical engineering at a private university in Kanathur.
The accused, A Mohammed Aseef, 24, of Choolaimedu, was booked under IPC Sections 294 (rash driving), 304 (ii) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and other provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.
Around 2.30 am on Monday, the driver lost control of the car and rammed his vehicle into the road median on Anna Nagar Second Avenue. The vehicle went into a tailspin and knocked down seven people standing on the roadside in front of a popular supermarket opposite Kora Food Street, police said. Two security guards, three people walking towards their vehicles, and two others on bikes were hit by the out-of-control car.
Car crushed goods on sidewalk before halting
“After dashing against the victims, the vehicle crushed several goods placed on a sidewalk before coming to a halt,” a senior traffic police officer said.
Panicked onlookers went helter-skelter and ran away from the spot. While some people got hold of the sozzled driver, a man travelling with him fled the spot. The accused was later handed over to police. An ambulance crew that reached the spot declared Nagasundaram dead. Vijay Yadav, rushed to a hospital, died without responding to treatment, police said.
The injured, D Karthik, 22, of MKB Nagar, K Jhansi Nisha, 20, a second-year BSC student of a private university in Kanathur, V Kumar, 52, a security guard from Aminjikarai, R Dinesh Babu, 21, a food delivery agent from Kodungaiyur, and Mohammed Kamar, 20, a college student from Kodambakkam, are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in the city. The Thirumangalam traffic investigation police have registered a case and further investigations are on.