In Chennai, two brothers run over by lorry

They were riding a bike to engineering college on Poonamallee-Avadi Road

Nearly 100 students staged a road roko in front of the S.A. Engineering College, protesting the poor condition of the road — Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

Two brothers, both engineering students, died in a road accident on Poonamallee–Avadi Road on Friday morning.

The victims, Vijay Varadhan (18), a second-year IT engineering student at S.A. Engineering College, and Vijay Sarathy (17), a first-year mechanical engineering student at Sastha Engineering College, died after a lorry ran over them at Seneer Kuppam around 7.45 a.m.

Nearly 100 students staged a road roko in front of S.A. Engineering College, condemning the accident and protesting the poor condition of the road.

According to the police, Vijay Varadhan was riding the bike and his brother was riding pillion. When they were a few meters away from the college, a load lorry (TN 22 X 6255) hit their vehicle from behind and ran over them. The brothers died on the spot. The police seized the vehicle and are searching for the driver.

The victims’ bodies were taken to Sri Ramachandra Medical College mortuary for post-mortem.

According to a family friend, the boys’ father Chelladurai, who is the AIADMK secretary of ward 91, used to drop Vijay Varadhan at Ambattur Estate bus stop from where he boarded a MTC bus to his college.

“But 20 days back, Vijay Sarathy joined college and Chelladurai did not have enough money to pay for the college bus. So the brothers started going by bike. Vijay Varadhan would get dropped at his college and then his brother would proceed to his,” said S. Suresh.

Many of Vijay Varadhan’s classmates who had come to the hospital remembered him as a good friend who was happy-go-lucky.

They said there was a dire need to have speed-breakers or some system to control speeding in front of the college.

“Lot of accidents happen on this road. This is mainly because of speeding and the poor condition of the road. Many concrete mixer lorries ply this road due to availability of water and they have spoiled the stretch completely,” said one of Vijay Varadhan’s classmates.

“The police have to take measures to prevent such accidents in the future and ensure safety of students,” said a student.