Families of the victims of Wednesday’s accident on Wallajah Road, in which a >police van rammed a motorcycle seriously injuring two men, approached the commissioner of police’s office on Monday, seeking action against the police driver, who is yet to be identified.
Police had accused the injured motorcyclist A. Prabhu (29), a technical engineer with Aircel, of rash riding and endangering the lives of other motorists by riding on the wrong side of the road, a claim most eyewitnesses of the accident denied.
The families of the victims have still not received copies of the First Information Report on the accident.
“A traffic policeman came to the hospital twice and insisted Prabhu had been riding on the wrong side of the road and threatened us with police action if we claimed otherwise. But all the locals at the site of the accident know that this is untrue. We do not know what has been recorded by the police,” said a relative of the victims.
According to shopkeepers on Wallajah Road near the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Prabhu was riding the motorcycle, while his friend Balamurugan was riding pillion. At 1.30 p.m. on Wednesday, Prabhu was negotiating a u-turn on the road, when a police van speeding from the opposite direction hit the two-wheeler, severely injuring the men. The men were returning after dining at a restaurant nearby.
Prabhu has been admitted to Apollo Hospitals on Greams Road and has undergone two surgeries on his right leg. He needs to have a few more surgeries in the next few days to save his leg, his relatives at the hospital said.
Balamurugan is undergoing treatment at Sri Ramachandra Hospital as the accident left him with a punctured lung as a result of broken ribs. He too, is awaiting surgery on his right leg.
Both families said they were struggling to pay the medical expenses.
Speaking to The Hindu on Monday, Prabhu’s brother-in-law, J. Thiyagarajan, said that both the victims’ families had approached the Commissionerate to initiate action against the police driver.
“We have submitted a petition and are hoping to see justice done, and the real offender punished. Prabhu is suffering and has been blamed for no fault of his,” Thiyagarajan said.
According to Anna Square traffic investigation sources, initially Prabhu was accused of riding in the wrong direction on a one-way stretch and booked under four sections, including rash riding and causing danger to fellow motorists.
However the police driver was not named in the FIR despite both vehicles involved in the accident being brought to the police station.
