Driver falls asleep, lorry mows down three

The deceased were identified as T Murali (24) of Ekkattur in Chengalpattu, R Sivakumar (24) of Kollapatti in Krishnagiri, and K Murthy (32) of Singarapuram in Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. Police said that they were employed at Sai Ram bakery in Ramapuram.

Murthy used to go to his hometown once in two weeks to be with his wife and three children, aged 4, 3 and 7-months. But he found this to be too tedious, and had quit the job at the bakery and was looking for another job that would enable him to be with his family. Murali and Sivakumar, who also shared a room with him, went to the bus stop to send him off.

As they were waiting for a bus to Chittoor at around 2 am, a tipper lorry carrying construction debris from Guindy to Porur rammed the bus stop in front of MIOT Hospital. They sustained grievous injuries on their head and hip, and died on the spot due to profuse loss of blood.

On information, St Thomas Mount traffic investigation police rushed to the spot, but by then all three were dead. Their bodies were sent to Chromepet government hospital for post-mortem examination.

Police said lorry driver Kotteswaran (27) fell asleep behind the wheel resulting in the accident. Kotteswaran, who had absconded after the accident, was nabbed on Sunday morning. He was remanded in judicial custody.

A case was registered under Sections 279 (rash driving), 304(ii) (culpable homicide) of IPC and 134(a) and (b) (not performing the duty of driver in case of accident and injury to a person) of Motor Vehicles Act. The lorry belongs to D Selvakumar. Further inquiry is on.

Speaking to DT Next, , said that Murthy and his wife Mahalakshmi have three children aged 4, 3 and a 7-month-old boy.

“He used to travel Chittoor every fortnight. He quit the job and was waiting to board the bus when the tragedy took place,” said Kalyanasundaram, Murthy’s elder brother who received the body after autopsy. Kalyanasundaram works in another bakery in the city, while Murthy came to Chennai only last year after working in Dharmapuri, said police.