In an accident eerily similar to the one that took place at Chakkaraparambu a month ago, an over-speeding car rammed a metro pillar at Pathadipalam, killing a young woman around 2 a.m. on Tuesday.
The deceased person was identified as K.M. Mansia aka Suhana, 22, of Edathala, while two others escaped with minor injuries. Salman, 24, who drove the car, has been arrested while the other occupant, Jibin Johnson, 28, remains in police custody.
The Kalamassery police have registered a case invoking, among others, IPC Section 304A (causing death by negligence). All the three were drunk, said the police. The hatchback was reduced to rubble under the impact of its collision with metro pillar 325.
Rumours that one of the occupants of the car had fled the scene shortly after the incident triggered conspiracy theories drawing parallels with the Chakkaraparambu accident. Three persons, including two promising models, died in that accident in which their car rammed a tree along the national highway almost during similar hours on November 1.
However, the police scotched rumours that Jibin Johnson had fled the spot. He was merely disoriented as he was drunk. “He didn’t actually flee but was taken to a nearby hospital following the accident. Since he was in an inebriated state, he wandered outside the hospital without being noticed and collapsed along a nearby road. When he turned sober, he left for his home at Varapuzha from where he was taken into custody in the afternoon,” a senior official with the Kalamassery police said.
The three had known each other for the past few months and were together at Salman’s house near HMT at Kalamassery. They were on a night drive in the direction of Aluva when the accident took place, the police said.
The car was reportedly over-speeding. The police are in the process of collecting CCTV footage along the route.
