Chennai: A safety meet at an apartment complex turned deadly for two on ECR (East Coast Road) here, after a speeding car killed the apartment's welfare association secretary and security bureau officer on Tuesday night.
The driver has been identified as an executive of Bank of Maharashtra, heading Thiruvanmiyur branch operating in the apartment complex. The irate residents of the apartment handed him over to the City Police on Wednesday.
Four persons including the deceased – Piyari Lal, (62), secretary of Sai Subhodaya Apartment’s Residents’ Association, and Abdul Rahim, (44), security-bureau officer of the apartment were deliberating as to how to improve the safety and security of the apartment complex when the incident took place.
The bank’s chief manager Venkatesh, (35), after the day’s work, started his car parked in the campus and ran straight into the quartet near the gate. All four were rushed to a private hospital in the vicinity while the deceased were rushed to another private hospital in Adyar where the duo succumbed to the injuries late into the night. The other two injured are identified as Brindheswaran, (55), guard, and Vasudevan, (62), apartment resident, and is being treated.
Venkatesh who caused the accident was roughed up by the flat residents, who later handed him over to Thiruvanmiyur Police on Wednesday.
During the interrogation, Venkatesh claimed that the brakes in the vehicle failed when he started it, leading to the accident.
Senior police officials who are privy to the investigation suggested that Venkatesh could have been learning to drive very recently. It appears he had confused the accelerator with the brake after he panicked on the sight of the people blocking his way. He had floored the accelerator instead of the brake pedal and hit them.
Thiruvanmiyur Police who took him in custody charged him under section 304A (causing death by negligence) and had been enlarged on station bail. The car was seized and will be tested by a motor inspector to verify the claims of brake failure.
