7-year-old girl dies, 7 injured after drunk driver ploughs into procession in Chikkamagalur village

CHIKKAMAGALUR: A seven-year-old girl died on the spot and seven others were injured after a drunk man drove his car into an Ambedkar Jayanti procession in Bilekallu village in Chikkamagalur taluk on Tuesday.

The deceased girl has been identified as 7-year-old Sanvi while the injured Nishchith (11), Trupti, Thimmaraju, Usha, Chetan, Srushti and Nagaraj have been admitted to Hassan Medical College for further treatment.

As soon as the accident occurred, enraged locals caught the car driver Sudhakar and severely beat him, and smashed the car’s windows to pieces. Another person who was in the car fled the scene. After the incident, the injured and the driver were brought to the district hospital, where a heated argument broke out between angry villagers and the police, leading to a tense situation.

Villagers alleged that police were preparing to shift the driver to a private hospital, and expressed outrage saying, “The car driver is fine, focus on the injured”. As tension built up at the location, more than 50 police personnel were deployed for security.

Additional SP Jayakumar visited the hospital and heard the deceased child’s parents, and tried to pacify the people. He folded his hands and requested the agitated crowd to leave, and sent them away after calming them down. A case has been registered at the Chikkamagaluru Rural Police Station in connection with the incident, and further investigation is under way.