A beggar woman sustained severe head injuries and died after an auto-rickshaw knocked her down in southern Bengaluru on Sunday.
Dhanalakshmi was crossing National High School Road in VV Puram on Sunday night when the auto, going towards Diagonal Road, hit her, causing her to lose balance and fall headfirst on the road. The driver drove away without stopping.
Off-duty police personnel witnessed the accident and reported it to the police, who admitted her to Victoria Hospital. Doctors who treated her confirmed that she was under the influence of alcohol when the accident occurred, between 8 pm and 8.30 pm. Police said that she was found with a bottle of alcohol in her pocket. She died 12 hours later, around 8 am on Monday.
The 45-year-old woman, reportedly mentally ill, had been living on the streets after her brother Jagadish, a sweeper at the Jayanagar police station, kicked her out of their home in a Jayanagar slum. He cited difficulties living with her.
Previously, traffic police had taken Dhanalakshmi to Beggar's Colony during the Covid pandemic, where she lived for a few months before running away. She reached VV Puram and took to begging outside the Subramanya Swamy temple near Sajjan Rao Circle.
VV Puram traffic police have launched an investigation to nab the absconding auto-rickshaw driver and are checking CCTV footage from the nearby premises.