Bengaluru: Woman pillion rider dies in accident, rider friend booked

Bengaluru: A late night search for a cigarette shop, mixed with drunk riding proved fatal for a 22-year-old woman pillion rider, who died on the spot after the bike that her friend was riding skidded and rammed into a culvert on Old Madras Road early on Monday morning.

The victim, Shwetha D’souza, was not wearing a helmet and suffered grievous head injuries after she fell on the culvert. The police have arrested Nithin Nagaraj, 22, the victim’s friend who was riding the bike under the influence of alcohol. Sections of culpable homicide not amounting to murder along with rash and negligent driving have been slapped against him.

Shwetha, who worked as an analyst at Northern Trust, a multinational, had partied with Nithin on Sunday night at Nagavarapalya in C.V. Raman Nagar. Around midnight, they both set out on Nithin’s KTM Duke bike in search of a cigarette shop.

They were on their way from Nagavarapalya towards NGEF bus stop and when their bike reached a U-turn in Sudduguntepalya on Old Madras Road. Nithin who was drunk lost applied brakes suddenly as a vehicle was passing by the other road.

As the bike skidded and crashed into a culvert, Shwetha’s head hit the culvert, the police said. The accident occurred around 12.30 am and Nithin was seen at the junction shouting for help from passersby. A few of them called an ambulance and also alerted the police.

Around 1.45 am, Shwetha was shifted to Chinmaya Mission Hospital in Indiranagar where she was declared brought dead. Nithin had sustained injuries on his knees and was given first aid at the hospital.

The police took him for a medical examination to Manipal Hospital and found that he had an alcohol level of 175 mg/dL, the police said. Shwetha’s body was shifted to Bowring Hospital for the postmortem and later it was handed over to her mother Leticia D’Souza.