A 48-year-old cobbler, sleeping on a pavement, was run over by a car driven by a woman engineering student near DAE Colony in Kushaiguda late on Sunday night.
The accident took place past midnight, a few metres from the Kushaiguda police station. The victim was identified as T. Ashok Kumar, a resident of Mirjalguda, who succumbed to injuries on the way to Gandhi Hospital around 1.30 a.m. Kumar’s 25-year-old son, Mahesh, who was sleeping beside his father, escaped with minor injuries. Initially, the police suspected that Ishanya Pathireddy (20), a second-year engineering student and a resident of Tarnaka, who was at the wheel, was in an inebriated condition at the time of the accident. “Later, breath analyser test confirmed that she was not drunk. However, two other women, who were in the car, tested positive,” said K Chandra Shekar, inspector of Kushaiguda.
During interrogation, the women told police that they were getting back from a party in AS Rao Nagar to Ishanya’s house in Tarnaka for an overnight stay. Police said the “overspeeding” white sedan — with four women, including the driver, who are all second-year engineering students— climbed up the footpath, ran over the cobbler and hit the compound wall of the DAE colony.
A case under IPC Section 304 A (causing death due to negligence) was booked against Ishanya, said Khushaiguda ACP P Krishna Murthy.
