Student dies, three injured as car overturns at Banjara Hills

Tragedy strikes on Road No. 3, Banjara Hills

The car that turned turtle after the driver Fasahat Ali, an engineering student lost control, hit the median and fell on the opposite lane on Road No.3, Banjara Hills in Hyderabad.

Rash driving proved fatal for one engineering student who rammed the car he was driving into the median on the busy Banjara Hills stretch Tuesday afternoon.

19-year-old Fasahat Ali, student of Muffakhamjah College of Engineering and Technology, along with two of his friends from the same institute, had food at a restaurant on Banjara Hills Road No. 3 and was returning to their college when the incident occurred. The driver lost control of the vehicle and hit the median at high-speed, resulting in severe head injuries for the teenager and killing him on the spot.

CCTV footage recorded from cameras nearby show that the hatchback hit the median after swerving to extreme right of the lane, in an attempt to overtake an auto. The inward left-bending curve on the road, it appears, prevented the speeding car from regaining balance.

After it hit the divider, the car somersaulted a few times before coming to a halt on the other side of the road. The oncoming traffic on the opposite side came to a screeching halt to avoid being hit by the vehicle hurtling towards them. The accident caused traffic slowdown on the busy stretch for more than an hour after the accident as onlookers slowed down to take a look.

A police official enquiring into the incident said other persons in the car survived as they did not suffer injuries above the waist. “The driver’s head hit the median, causing fatal injuries. One student suffered a fracture to his hand while another escaped unhurt,” the official said.

Initial enquiries did not suggest the driver was driving under influence of alcohol. Ali’s father told cops that his son had a driver’s license. The vehicle is registered in the father’s name.

“To proceed in the investigation we have registered a case for negligent and rash driving against the driver, though he is dead. We are trying to ascertain if he had a valid license before we can proceed,” Banjara Hills ACP M. Murali said.

Around the same time, a year ago on July 10, a little girl Ramya, was grievously injured and later died when a car driven rashly by a driver in an inebriated condition came from the opposite side on Road No. 3, Banjara Hills, hit the median and fell on the vehicle in which Ramya was travelling with her family.

In September 2015, three engineering students died when the car in which they were travelling on Road No.3 hit the shutter of a closed shop at high speed.