HYDERABAD: A total of three road accidents due to drunk driving claimed four lives and left four more injured within a span of 24 hours in the city. While two of these accidents involved SUVs killed four people, the third one injured four pedestrians. The Banjara Hills, Narsingi and Madhapur police booked cases against the individuals responsible for the accidents and arrested them.
In the first case, Rohit Goud, 29, a realtor, was arrested by the Banjara Hills Police for killing two men, both employees of a private hospital, by running them over with his luxury car while driving under the influence of alcohol in the wee hours of Monday.
Rohit Goud, accompanied by his friend, Sai Suman Reddy, was driving his Porsche Cayenne , bearing the number TS 08 HR 3344, when he ran over Ayodhya Ray and Debashish Shamra, employees of a private hospital who were heading home on foot at around 1:30 am, said Banjara Hills police inspector P. Shiva Chandra.
“A preliminary enquiry revealed that they consumed alcohol at three pubs in the city. After the investigation into the fatal drunk driving accident is done, we will be sending notices to these pubs. The BAC (blood alcohol count) in Rohit was noted as 70 and 58 in Suman,” said the official, adding that they were heading towards KBR Park from Panjagutta when the mishap took place at Road Number 2 in Banjara Hills. The car was said to be in such a speed that the men flung into the air and died on the spot.
The two men fled the spot and parked it in an apartment at Jubilee Hills and later allegedly surrendered before the police. The police shifted the bodies of the deceased to Osmania General Hospital for post mortem.
In the second case, C. Sanjeeva, 30, was booked by the Narsingi police for driving his car under the influence of alcohol and running over a couple on a two-wheeler on Monday afternoon. The deceased, Durga Raj, 38, and his wife, Mounika, 27, both milk vendors by profession, were heading on a wrong route when Sanjeeva was rushing his newborn daughter to a hospital when they met with an accident, said Narsingi police inspector Shiva Kumar.
“Sanjeeva's daughter was born on Sunday night and the family was alleged to have had a party where he got drunk. However, upon realising that his daughter was unwell, he was rushing to the hospital in a drunken state when the couple, heading towards the car in a wrong route, were dashed and killed on the spot,” said the official, adding that it was yet to be ascertained where the man consumed alcohol and that his blood samples were being collected and sent to the laboratory.
In the third incident, the Madhapur police arrested three medicos for dashing into four pedestrians, injuring them on Sunday around 11:30 pm.
The accused, identified as Dr. Ammathalli Nikhil Kumar Reddy, 26, Dr. Gottumukkula Akhil Ramakrishna Raju, 24, and Dr. Mendu Tharun, were heading home to Kondapur from Inorbit Mall when their car hit four pedestrians, all employees of an eatery, who were heading home after their work, said police inspector of Madhapur, P. Ravindra Prasad. The car, a Kia SUV bearing the number AP 39 DR 7007, was being driven by Nikhil Reddy and had six unpaid pending challans amounting to Rs 5,275, with five of them for over-speeding. “They rushed the victims to a hospital for medical attention. Following a complaint, a case was booked against them and they were placed under arrest,” said the police.
The Cyberabad traffic police said that they had been booking those involved in drunk driving cases under 304-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC, along with the pub managements. “In a drunk driving accident, particularly the fatal ones, we launch a probe and track the place where they consumed alcohol. We check if they have been to a bar, pub or a restaurant before the mishap and verify the same with bills, CCTV footage and also ascertain where they parked the vehicles involved in the accident. Based on all of this, a case is registered against the management,” explained S. Vijay Kumar, DCP, Cyberabad traffic police.
