Date:02/01/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/01/02/stories/2005010215390500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Three revellers die in mishaps

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JAN. 1. The New Year revelry left three persons, including two engineering students, dead and over 12 injured in separate road accidents. Five of the injured were pedestrians. The three victims were not wearing helmets.

The two students studying mechanical engineering at Hi-tech Engineering College at Chilkur - S.K.S. Bhargav alias Subhash (20) of Kukatpally and S.V. Satyanand Kumar (19) of Gudimalkapur - died on the spot when the motorcycle on which they were moving skidded and hit a road divider near Moghal Residency under the Langer Houz police station limits around 1.20 a.m.

Rash driving

It is learnt that both the friends were allegedly drunk and were on way to their friend, Girish Verma's house at Azizbagh in Tolichowki for the New Year party.

The Police said that Bhargav was driving at a high speed and lost control of the vehicle, which resulted in the death.

Girish Verma and another friend, who were coming on another motorcycle behind them, rushed the duo to a nearby private hospital, where they were declared brought dead.

In another accident under the Chikkadpally police station limits, an air conditioner mechanic, M. Venkatesh (24) of Kavadiguda, died instantly when the motorcycle he was driving was hit by another one near the APSRTC MD office, RTC crossroads, last night. The accident occurred around 11.30 p.m. He was on his way back home after a New Year party. The Chikkadpally police registered a case.

The injured

The injured persons, with the police station limits in brackets, were: Ashok (Santoshnagar), Azeem Khan (Amberept), Sk. Nadir Hussain (Nallakunta), B. Goverdhan (Langer Houz), a 12-year-old unidentified boy in Saifabad, Gopal (Patancheru), D. Venkat Reddy (Uppal), Rajasekhar (Trimulgherry) and Sekhar (Musheerabad). The condition of two of them was said to be serious.

The pedestrians who were hit by vehicles were identified as Shantamma (Banjara Hills), K. Sujatha (Punjagutta), Sagar Rao (Karkhana), a 65-year-old unidentified man (Chaderghat) and another person.

Cases booked

Nearly 100 cases were booked for triple riding and driving while talking on mobile phones. In some cases, as many as four persons were seen travelling on a single motorcycle. Many were seen flouting norms on Tank Bund and surrounding areas. The Traffic police were seen telling youth against breaking rules through the public address systems.

The police even seized at least 12 vehicles in different parts of the city for drunken driving. "Besides booking cases, our main focus was to prevent road accidents," the Additional Commissioner of Police, Tejdeep Kaur Menon, said.