45-day-old baby killed in hit-and-run accident at Akkarai on East Coast Road

Police said that an auto-driver Rafeek (24), his wife Sayitha Banu (21) and his mother Nafeesa (45) were on their way back home after going to a private hospital in Injambakkam with the infant Irfann. 

While the auto was moving along the Annai Farm House in Akkarai on the ECR around 10.45 pm, a car hit the vehicle and sped away. As a result, Rafeek lost control and rammed against a tree. 

In the impact, the auto-driver was thrown out of the vehicle. Irfann, who was on his mother’s lap fell and sustained injuries on his head. Rafeek injured his right hand and right hip. 

Speaking to DTNext, the auto-driver said, “I was driving at 30 km per hour, when the car which looked like an Innova hit my vehicle. People who saw the accident rushed us to the hospital. But by 12.30 am, my child Irfann passed away at the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children in Egmore.” 

The body of the child was sent to the Government Rajiv Gandhi Hospital for post-mortem. Shastri Nagar police registered a case. A six-member police team have started investigations on the case. They have collected the CCTV footage from the spot. 

Two arrested for vandalising police jeep 

Meanwhile, at MKB Nagar on Friday night, two persons were arrested for damaging a police patrol vehicle.  

Police said that a few drunk guests at a private marriage hall were creating ruckus on Erukkancheri High Road on Friday night. 

The policemen arrived at the spot in a patrol jeep and tried to disperse the crowd there. 

In the melee, two men from the crowd turned violent and damaged the windshield of the patrol jeep. After vandalising the vehicle, they fled the spot. 

Later, on inquiries with the marriage party and the public, police identified the duo as brothers from Seven Wells. 

Subsequently, police arrested Manikandan (22), who worked in an automobile shop and his younger brother Muthu (20), a coolie. 

Cases have been registered against the duo under sections 294 (b) and 354 of the IPC and they were produced before a magistrate and remanded under police custody.