A fatal road accident in Kanpur on Saturday night has left a 61-year-old man dead after his scooter was struck and dragged by a speeding SUV. The victim, identified as Santosh Singh Chauhan, a resident of Swaraj Nagar in Panki, was returning home from a shopping trip in Keshavpuram when the incident occurred at approximately 8:00 pm. The collision took place near Gayatri Palace in the Awas Vikas-3 area of Kalyanpur.
According to eyewitness accounts, the victim was traveling on his scooter when a Mahindra Thar approached from behind at a high speed, estimated by one witness to be around 100 kmph. Vinod Kumar, a lawyer who was riding home on a motorcycle with his wife at the time, reported that he had to swerve his own vehicle to avoid being hit by the SUV just before it struck the victim. The force of the impact reportedly threw Mr. Chauhan into the air, after which he fell beneath the vehicle and was dragged for approximately 20 metres.
The ordeal ended when the Thar broke through the boundary wall of a garden belonging to Professor Kailash Chandra and subsequently crashed into the wall of an adjacent property owned by GST superintendent Anita Mahadevan. The victim’s scooter was described as being mangled beyond recognition by the force of the collision. Following the crash, the two individuals inside the SUV reportedly exited the vehicle and escaped the scene in another car that had been summoned to pick them up.
Witnesses at the site alleged that the two occupants of the SUV appeared to be intoxicated. Furthermore, onlookers claimed that the people who arrived in the second vehicle to assist the pair in fleeing threatened those who had gathered, asserting they were relatives of a government minister. These allegations remain part of the local discourse surrounding the tragic event, as authorities work to establish the sequence of events and identify the responsible parties.
The SUV involved in the incident bore the markings “Krishna Group” on its rear. Official records indicate that the vehicle is registered to a resident named Krishna Kumar, residing in Gyan Villa, Panki. In the wake of the incident, local police arrived to secure the scene and initiate a formal investigation. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) West, Qasim Abidi, confirmed that the vehicle has been seized by law enforcement officials. The body of the deceased was subsequently sent for a post-mortem examination to officially determine the cause of death.
The victim is survived by his wife, Sunita, his son Rahul, who is an engineer, and his daughter Sakshi, who is employed at a multinational company in Bengaluru. Rahul recounted that his father had simply ventured out on Saturday evening to purchase a saree for his mother and was in the process of returning home when he was fatally struck. The incident has prompted calls for a thorough inquiry into the conduct of the drivers involved and the alleged threats made at the crash site.
As of now, the police have not disclosed any further arrests, stating only that the seizure of the vehicle has been completed and that further legal action is currently underway. The community remains shaken by the incident, highlighting ongoing concerns regarding road safety and the enforcement of traffic regulations in urban areas like Kanpur.
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