CHENNAI: A drunk driver of a car with two friends returning from a hotel in the wee hours of Monday ran over pavement dwellers in Velachery, killing a man, his pregnant wife and an elderly woman. The couple's 18-month-old son escaped unhurt.Police said at 1.04am, the grey Tata Indica driven by S Sivakumar, 29, hit a cow near Bharati Nagar bus stop near TCS office before climbing on to the pavement where ragpickers were sleeping. It ran over Arumugam, 35, and his six-month pregnant wife Aishwarya, 29, and an unidentified woman aged around 60. An eyewitness said the car dragged the couple for a distance. They died on way to Government Royapettah Hospital. The car, which had three occupants including the driver and his friends A Sasikumar, 20, and K Devendiran, 26, came to a halt after hitting a signage and bursting a tyre.
A police patrol which happened to be behind the car arrested Sivakumar, while the other two took to heels, but were soon caught. The men, employees of a cab service called Babitha Travels in Perungudi, later told police that they were returning from a hotel to their work place. Police said they were under the influence of alcohol. Sivakumar, an assistant manager of the firm, was driving the car and Sasikumar was the passenger in front seat, while Deva was in the back seat.
Hearing the screeching sound of the car, a few people from the adjacent houses and shops came on to the road and found the couple being dragged to a distance. Aadhi, a hotel employee in the neighbourhood said he had stepped out when he heard the noise. "I came running and was shocked to see the body of a woman lying underneath the car tyre. There was blood all over," said Aadhi. "Somewhere a child was crying and I feared the worst. I sighed in relief when I saw the child on the pavement, unhurt."
Aadhi said he had warned the family against sleeping on the pavement as there were many speeding vehicles and stray dogs that can harm the child. Police got their names from a few people in the locality with whom they had recently interacted. The identity of the elderly woman, however, remains unestablished.
Gunidy traffic investigation police have booked the men under IPC 304 (2) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). The three bodies have been shifted to the Government Royapettah Hospital for postmortem.
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