Hyderabad: Youth held for samaritan death

Hyderabad: The Chaderghat police arrested a student on Saturday for running over a 50-year-old man who was trying to cover a dug-up hole on the rainy Tuesday night. The speeding car crashed into the man and sent him flying a few feet away.

The accused was identified as Mohd Syed, studying graduation, said the police, adding that he has a driving licence.  

Liaqat Ali alias Zahed, a worker at Sohail Hotel, Malakpet, was trying to alert commuters of a danger zone on the busy Malakpet road in Chaderghat when he was knocked down by a car on Tuesday. The hit-and-run accident, which took place at around 9 pm, was caught on CC cameras and the video went viral on social media platforms.

The clip showed Zahed walking to the dug-up spot even as vehicles zoomed past him with a 'no parking' board from his hotel and was trying to put it up on the dug up part as a warning board to alert oncoming traffic of the bad road. While he was bent down to install the board, the speeding red car crashed into him. The victim was rushed to the Osmania General Hospital, where he succumbed to injuries.

Officials said the place adjacent to the road divider was dug open by the Electricity department for a 220kv cabling work. Chaderghat police verified CCTV footage to identify the car and arrested the 19-year-old on Saturday, who was booked under section 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC.

Officials fix road after mishap

Officials of the state electricity department fixed the dug-up part adjacent to the road divider at Malakpet on Wednesday, a day after the mishap which was dug open by the department for a 220kv cabling work.

Half of the cement block that covers the rectangular manhole was broken, and with the steel frame of the cover being exposed with a cement block protruding out, it posed a threat to the commuters travelling in the monsoon during heavy rains. The cover of the manhole had been removed as there was electrical work going on, and though there had been a barricade kept near it to warn people about the same, the barricade fell after an autorickshaw knocked it accidentally, said Chaderghat police inspector, Polishetty Sateesh. 

“The cement cover was removed as a part of electrical works. Acknowledging the threat it was posing to motorists, we had barricaded that portion of the road. However, on the day of the accident, just about 30 minutes before the mishap, an auto-driver rammed into the barricade and knocked it down. Noticing this, the victim, Liaqat Ali alias Zahed, went to put up a 'no parking' sign and was killed in the accident,” official said.

Meanwhile, Amjed Ullah Khan of the Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT), has alleged that numerous complaints were filed asking the Hyderabad civic body, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), to fix the open manhole on the road but in vain.

Khan said that he has approached the Human Rights commission and demanded that the GHMC be booked for murder and negligence of duty. He also asked the Telangana government to announce compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a government job for Zahed's family, as he had died trying to warn others about the dangerous manhole.