Coimbatore: Mishap victim in bad shape

Coimbatore: A young mother, sole breadwinner of her family in Coimbatore, has been grievously injured after a truck ran over her legs when she lost control of her scooter and fell down on the Avinishai Road on Monday morning. Eyewitnesses said Rajeswari, 30, on her way to work, panicked and applied sudden brake to halt her bike when an AIADMK flagpole landed on the road.

It was only in September that a young woman, Subhasri, lost her life under the wheels of a truck in Chennai after she lost control of her bike and she fell down when an AIADMK banner fell on her. An AIADMK ex-councilor, S Jayagopal, who had put up those banners to welcome Deputy CM Panneerselvam for his son’s wedding, was arrested several days after the tragedy. He was released on conditional bail by the Madras High Court on Monday, barely a couple of hours after Rajeswari’s tragedy.  

Relatives and colleagues said Rajeswari, alias Anuradha, had suffered multiple fractures in one leg and the nerves have been cut in the other leg. Some members of the public rushed her to a private hospital and informed the family. She underwent a seven-hour surgery that could only partially redeem the nerves and would require another operation, besides extensive and expensive treatment to restore some semblance of mobility to the limbs, the distraught family said.

They said doctors at the hospital have placed her on a 48-hour close monitoring and are giving her antibiotics and analgesics to prevent infection and pain. If there is no infection, she would be taken in for another surgery to reconnect the crushed nerves, they said.

They also said that Rajeswari is the sole breadwinner for the family. She works as an accountant in a private concern and has an 8-year-old son.  Amid public anger and social media outrage, the police said the mishap had nothing to do with the party flagpole and it was a case of rash-driving by the truck driver. Also, the flagpoles were erected on the far side of the road whereas the victim fell close to the median. Besides, the AIADMK functionary had obtained the required police permission before putting up those flag posts by the roadside, they said.

Also, the police FIR had no mention of the AIADMK flagpole falling on the road. The posts were quickly removed from the road after the gruesome mishap. A young man riding his two-wheeler close to Rajeswari was also hit by the truck, and luckily escaped with minor injuries on his hands. It was on the basis of his complaint that the FIR was filed, and he had not mentioned a word about the party flagpole falling on the road.

Truck driver Murugan was arrested by the police early Tuesday. They said he has been booked under sections 279 (Rash driving), 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of IPC.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, at his media interaction in Salem on Tuesday, said he was not yet aware of the road mishap. His party functionary did no wrong in erecting the flagpoles as the court had prohibited erecting only banners and posters, not flagpoles, he pointed out.

DMK president M. K. Stalin has blamed the AIADMK for the mishap, saying it was the ruling party’s craving for publicity that led to the tragedy.

“There are allegations that it was because of a falling flag post that Anuradha met with an accident and that police are attempting to hide facts,” he tweeted.