A councillor of the Chettipalayam town panchayat, a suburb of Coimbatore city, and his six-month-old daughter died, after the car they were travelling in was rear-ended by a speeding luxury car near Tiruppur, in the early hours of Monday, November 13, 2023.
Santhosh Kumar (27), a resident of Chettipalayam in Coimbatore, and councillor of ward 10 of the town panchayat, and his daughter Kajal died in the accident in Eettiveerampalayam on the Salem - Kochi highway (NH-544), around 12 km from Tiruppur city.
The hatchback in which the DMK councillor and his family were travelling, hit the road’s median after being rear-ended | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Police said that the accident took place around 1 a.m. on Monday when Kumar, his wife S. Indhumathi (23) and their six-month-old daughter were travelling in a hatchback to Erode. As the car reached Eettiveerampalayam, a rashly-driven luxury sedan, bearing the registration number TN 02 AV 9005, rear-ended the hatchback.
Kumar lost control of the car and it rammed the median. He and his daughter died on the spot while Ms. Indhumathi suffered serious injuries. She was admitted to a private hospital where she is undergoing treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU).
The police said the passengers of the sedan, Sidharth (22), D. Gladwin (21), T. Andrew (22), Arun (22) and G. Jeevan (22), escaped with minor injuries. They were admitted to another private hospital for treatment.
Sidharth was driving the luxury car. and the youngsters were on a night drive from Sowripalayam in Coimbatore to a coffee shop in Chengapalli in Erode district when the accident took place, said the police.
The Perumanallur police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the accident.
