Chennai: Lawyer’s son in speeding Porsche kills auto driver

A man driving a Porsche, in an inebriated condition judging by the positive test in the driver’s blood alcohol content, crashed into a dozen autos in Chennai, killing a 29-year-old auto driver in the early hours of Monday. Eight others were injured in the accident. About a dozen parked autos were mangled in the incident. The driver, Vikash Anand (22), the son of a Supreme Court lawyer, was coming back from a late-night party at a luxury hotel in Nungambakkam after celebrating the victory of his brother’s team Tuti Patriots in the first edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) on Sunday night. His friend, and owner of the Porsche, Charan Kumar (38), was with him in the car. He also tested positive for alcohol content in his blood.

The deceased, identified as Arumugam (29), a native Tiruttani, was among a group of auto drivers from in and around Arakkonam and Tiruttani who usually congregate on Cathedral Road and spend the hours between 10pm and 4am there every day. At around 3am, the speeding car hit the kerb ahead of the Poes Garden junction while heading towards the beach and swerved. The car then hit the median before ramming into a fleet of autos parked opposite Dr Agarwal’s Eye Clinic on Cathedral Road.

Three autos were mangled beyond repair and eight others damaged, while the luxury two-seater sports car was a virtual wreck.

The two persons who were critically injured were rushed to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) while the rest were taken to the Government Royapettah Hospital (GRH).

“At 3.10am, I woke up after I felt a pain in my head coupled with the screeching noise of braking. A few autos had turned turtle, some were crushed and some others damaged. A few of the drivers were out of their vehicles while others were still stuck inside their autos. The sports car was also there but there was none present inside the car. Many of us were thrown off our vehicle, and gathered ourselves up,” said R. Ravi, an auto co-driver from Arakkonam, who was also injured in the accident.

The Adyar traffic police booked and arrested Vikash, resident of Giriappa Road, T Nagar, and Charan, resident of Prakasam Mudali street, under sections 304 (ii) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 109 (abetment), and 114 (abettor present when offence is committed) of IPC.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Vikash had already gone on a joyride in Charan’s car and took him out again for another spin. Both tested positive in the blood alcohol content test after the accident. Vikash is pursuing a law degree at the School of Excellence in Law at Dr. Ambedkar Law University. The wrecked Porsche, a Cayman S, is worth Rs 1.3 crore.