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Teen held as speeding Honda City kills auto driver in Mohali
A couple on Activa injured too; while husband received minor injuries, the wife suffered multiple fractures and is undergoing treatment
An 18-year-old boy has been arrested after his speeding Honda City left an auto-rickshaw driver dead and a couple on a scooter injured at a traffic junction in Sector 70, Mohali, on Saturday.
The incident comes three weeks after a speeding Mercedes being driven by an 18-year-old boy from Chandigarh claimed three lives and left three injured near Radha Soami Satsang Chowk on Airport Road in Mohali.
In the present case, the accused has been identified as Prithavi, 18, of Phase 1. He along with his father, Sandeep, and a friend was going towards Kumbra when the accident took place around 8:30am.
The auto driver has been identified as Arjun Yadav, 35, of Phase 3A. The injured are Abhimanyu and his wife Aditi. Aditi, a private school teacher, suffered multiple fractures and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mohali. Abhimanyu, an advocate, managed to escape with minor injuries.
Abhimanyu told police that he was on his way to drop his wife to her school in Balongi and was waiting at the light point next to the auto near the power grid in Sector 70, Mohali. Both vehicles were to turn towards the side from where the speeding Honda City came.
It first hit the auto, which overturned, and Abhimanyu’s Activa, too, got caught between the two vehicles. The auto driver was rushed to the civil hospital in Phase 6, and was referred to Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, but succumbed due to his head injuries.
“Prithavi was speeding, which led to the accident. He has been arrested,” said inspector Ashok Kumar, station house officer, Mataur, adding that it is being investigated whether he had a valid licence.
Police said that the road where the accident took place presently has a single lane, as the other side was dug up for laying new sewer lines. Amid the pandemic, the work has been going on slowly, forcing vehicles to use just one lane, which often leads to accidents, they said.
Meanwhile, a case has been registered under Sections 279 (rash driving), 304A (causing death by negligence), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 426 (mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
Two youths yet to be arrested in Merc mishap
Even three weeks after the Mercedes accident on Airport Road, police are yet to arrest two youths who were accompanying the main accused.
According to police, Samrat Singh, 18, a resident of Sector 34, Chandigarh, was out for a joyride with his friends after a drinking session in the car and was driving at a speed of 140km per hour when he crashed into a taxi and then ran over two cyclists.
The collision had killed two occupants of the taxi and one of the cyclists, while three were left critically injured.
Samrat’s two friends, Arjun Kapoor of Sector 9, Chandigarh, and Prabhnoor Singh, of Phase 7, Mohali, are on the run.
All accused are facing charges under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 304A (causing death by negligence) and 279 (rash driving) of the Indian Penal Code.
