CHENNAI: Police have launched a search for the driver of a vehicle which ran over a 57 year old man sleeping on the side of the road in Kottivakkam during the early hours of Wednesday.

Around 1:30 AM, a passerby who noticed the man with bloody injuries alerted the ambulance who reached the scene and after confirming that the man was already dead, alerted the police.

Personnel from the Thoraipakkam Traffic Investigation Wing (TIW) reached the scene and secured the body and moved it for post mortem.

Police said that there were tyre marks on the torso and the deceased was crushed under the wheels.

The deceased was identified as V Sivakumar of Kalathumettu street in Kottivakkam. He worked at a utensils manufacturing unit near his home.

Police investigations revealed that Sivakumar used to get into trouble with his family members after getting drunk and sleep outside the home.

On Tuesday night too, he got drunk and passed out on the road when he got run over by a vehicle, police investigations revealed.

A case has been registered and further investigations are on.