Hyderabad: Lorry runs red light, runs over student

Hyderabad: A lorry driver allegedly drove through a red light and hit an autorickshaw that was carrying children to school, killing a 13-year-old boy on the spot at Uppal. Six other children were injured when the autorickshaw overturned under the impact of the lorry.

Police said that the teenager who was killed in the accident, Sundaragiri Avanth Kumar, got caught under the autorickshaw.

The Uppal police has taken lorry driver G Mallesh into custody and is verifying CCTV footage to understand how the accident took place.

At around 7.30 am on Tuesday, Sundaragiri Avanth Kumar and his elder brother Vedanth Kumar, and five other children, Harshith Reddy, Nandini, Keer-thi, Vaishnavi and Rithu, residents of New Bharath Nagar Colony, left for school in an autorickshaw (AP11 Y 4040). They all studied at Bhashyam High School in Habsiguda.

According to Uppal police, at around 7.50 am the auto was passing through the road beside the Little Flower Junior College to enter the main road when it was hit by the lorry (AP 24 TA 5469) that was going from Tarnaka to Uppal.

The auto overturned with the impact and Avanth Kumar who was sitting in the corner seat was thrown out of the autorickshaw which then fell on him. His elder brother Vedanth suffered a fracture to the shoulder, ribs, and also injuries to the chest, while the other children had just minor injuries.

Passersby and the traffic police rushed the injured children to Aditya Hospital in Uppal. The injured children were said to be out of danger.

Avanth Kumar was studying in Class VII. His father Santhosh Kumar is a conductor with the RTC’s Chen-gicherla depot and his mother Lalitha is a homemaker.

The family and relatives of the dead boy protested in front of the Uppal police station demanding immediate action against the driver and questioning the police why they allow heavy vehicles into the city during the early hours.

Santhosh, the father of the victim, lodged a complaint with the Uppal police alleging that the lorry driver jumped the traffic signal.

Rachakonda DCP Traffic (in-charge) N Divyacharan Rao told Deccan Chronicle: “The lorry driver violated the signal and hit the autorickshaw coming on to the main road.”CCTV footage shows that the lorry hit the autorickshaw from behind, he said.

To a question on how the lorry was operating within city limits, he said heavy vehicles are allowed between 10 pm and 8 am.