THOOTHUKUDI: Four court staffers died and the principal district judge of Thanjavur and another staff member sustained severe injuries after the car they were travelling in rammed a truck from behind at Melakaranthai on the Thoothukudi-Madurai National Highways on Friday morning. The accident occurred when the car, in a suspected attempt to overtake another vehicle, rear-ended a gypsum truck en route to Ariyalur, sources said.
While advocate S Dhananjeya Ramachandran (55) of Pudukottai, personal security officer D Navin Kumar (28) of Tiruchy, and record clerk K Vasu Ramanathan (33) of Pudukottai were crushed to death on the spot, junior bailiff CA Sridhar Kumar died on the way to Aruppukottai Government Hospital.
Thanjavur principal district judge K Poorana Jeya Anand (56) and staff K Udhayasuriyan (34) of Thanjavur, who sustained grievous injuries, were initially rushed to Aruppukottai GH, and later referred to Meenakshi Mission Hospital in Madurai. The tragedy struck when the group was on their way back to Thanjavur after visiting the Tiruchendur Murugan temple, sources said.
Thoothukudi SP Albert John, Thoothukudi district munsif cum judicial magistrate P Gnana Jeritha Flower and other officials inspected the accident spot. Preliminary investigation revealed that Vasu Ramanathan was behind the wheel and the accident happened while overtaking a truck at Melakaranthai. Poor maintenance of the NH road could also have led to the tragedy, sources added.
Meanwhile, the bodies of the deceased were shifted to Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital, and Aruppukottai GH. The postmortem procedures of Dhananjeya Ramachandran, Navin Kumar, and Vasu Ramanathan were conducted at Aruppukottai GH, while that of Sridhar Kumar was held at Thoothukudi MCH. Subsequently, the bodies were handed over to the relatives. The Masarpatti police have registered a case and probe is under way.
It may be noted that the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had recently ordered to halt toll collection at Pudur Pandiyapuram and Eliyarpathy toll plazas due to the poor maintenance of Thoothukudi-Madurai NH. However, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) later obtained a stay order from the Supreme Court, and continues to collect toll without completing the maintenance work.