Drunk senior executive in BMW hits autorickshaw, injures 4
Bengaluru: A senior executive of a liquor conglomerate at the wheel of a speeding BMW allegedly rammed an autorickshaw while trying to overtake it, injuring four persons in Indiranagar on Saturday night.
Senior police officers said those injured in the accident are not in danger and an investigation is under way. Three cases were slapped on Samrat Chadha, a senior executive of the Bengaluru-headquartered company. “He was clearly under the influence of alcohol when the accident took place,” said CK Baba, deputy commissioner of police, traffic (east).
The incident happened around 11.30pm on GM Palya Main Road, off CV Raman Nagar in East Bengaluru. Three men were going from Jeevan Bima Nagar to GM Palya in an autorickshaw to attend a temple festival when the BMW 320D hit their vehicle.
Autoriockshaw driver Sudhamohan told mediapersons the BMW tried to overtake him from the wrong side and rammed his vehicle. One passenger, who suffered injuries to his forehead, told the media the car was speeding and its occupants didn’t help the injured. “The car hit us from the side and the autorickshaw tilted. Even though we were injured, the car driver didn’t come to our help. Some passersby took us to hospital,” he said. There was also a woman in the car which reportedly sped away but later turned up at the Indiranagar traffic police station.
Under alcohol influence While the injured persons alleged that the car driver was drunk, traffic police too claimed he was under the influence of alcohol even at the station. Mobile camera footage from the station showed Chadha not cooperating with police who were asking him to blow into the alcometer to record the alcohol content. The footage also showed a policeman on duty slapping Chadha when he refused to blow into the machine.
Cases under IPC sections 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others ) and 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act (driving by a drunken person or by a person under the influence of drugs) were registered against Chadha.
