A speeding car claimed the life of a doctor, D. Umashankar, at Kannappa Nagar in Coimbatore on Saturday. The police said the doctor, who belonged to Chetpet in Chennai, ran Chennai Hospitals on Sathyamangalam Road in Coimbatore.
According to the police, the accident took place around noon at Kannappa Nagar where he had come to leave his car at a service centre. Chennai Hospitals’ former manager Maruthavanan was waiting for the doctor in another car.
Police said that after visiting an ATM, the doctor was standing on the roadside in front of a bakery when a speeding car knocked him down. He died on the spot.
The driver abandoned the vehicle and fled the spot. The doctor’s body was shifted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital for post-mortem.
In December 2020, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Coimbatore City Police had arrested Umashankar and Maruthavanan based on a complaint from Ramachandran, the owner of the building on Sathyamangalam road in which the doctor had been running Chennai Hospitals. Ellen Hospital was functioning earlier in the building.
According to the CCB, Ramachandran had leased the building to Umashankar who, however, defaulted payment of ₹4.95 crore. Umashankar and Maruthavanan were arrested on December 4 and later granted bail.
On Saturday, the staff of Chennai Hospitals thronged the office of Coimbatore District (Rural) Superintendent of Police alleging foul play in the death of the doctor. Police said efforts were on to trace the person who drove the car.
