Hans News Service Bhubaneswar

Atleast three persons were killed and three others seriously injured when a speeding car ran over several people having tea on a roadside stall after hitting multiple vehicles here, police said on Tuesday. The mishap took place in Gajapati Nagar area under Maitree Vihar police station limits, on the road connecting Acharya Vihar to Nalco Square in Bhubaneswar, on Monday night.

The speeding EV crashed into several two-wheelers and an auto-rickshaw on the road before ramming into a group of people having tea near the roadside stall. While two persons, identified as Jeyrom Ekka, husband of an IAS officer, and Santosh Behera (from Dhenkanal) were declared dead at the hospital on Monday night, another person, Laxmidhar Toppo, died during treatment at a hospital here on Tuesday morning, said Bhubaneswar ACP (zone-5) Biswaranjan Senapati.

Three other persons, including auto driver Shankarlal Sharma, Sulagna Deo, an HR in an IT firm, and Subrat Mishra, an employee of Nalco, are under treatment and admitted to different hospitals, he said. Sharma’s health condition is stated to be serious, while the other two injured persons are stable, Senapati said.

He further said that three cases were registered at Maitree Vihar police station related to the accident. “We have arrested the car driver Anil Kumar Gouda (30), a resident of Gangapur area in Ganjam district, under Section 105 of BNS (culpable homicide that does not amount to murder),” the ACP said.

When asked about the reason behind the accident, he said, “The car driver was experiencing severe cough just before the accident, and he did not exactly know how he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into people and other vehicles.” “A breath analyser test conducted on the driver showed zero alcohol reading, indicating that he was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of testing,” the ACP stated.

The police have seized the prescription and cough syrup bottle he was using. The police, however, said the exact cause and circumstances of the accident will be determined after completion of the investigation and examination of all available evidence.