Student run over by truck, case booked against driver, NHAI officials

Following the death of a 21-year-old student on Tuesday evening near Hosakote, the police have registered a criminal case against officials of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) amid allegations that the absence of a service road had led to the accident.

The deceased has been identified as Chaitanya, a resident of Koraluru and a B.Com student in a private college in Hosakote. She was returning home after college when an overspeeding concrete mixer truck rammed into the electric scooter she was riding near Koraluru Gate on the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, at around 4.30 pm. The truck rammed into the scooter from behind and dragged Chaitanya and her vehicle across the road for a few metres. Chaitanya died on the spot.

The incident led to outrage among local residents. More than 100 people, including members of Chaitanya's family, gathered at the accident site and staged a protest against NHAI officials for not having provided a service road on the stretch. The locals called off the protest only after NHAI officials and police officials assured them of a service road.

According to the police and local residents, the NHAI has blocked the road from Dandupalya village side to Koraluru village, and the authority has not provided a service road at the Koraluru Gate, making it an accident-prone stretch of the highway.

The Hosakote Police have registered a case of criminal negligence against the truck driver and NHAI officials in charge of the expressway under Section 304 A of the IPC (causing death by negligence).

The truck driver left the vehicle at the accident site and fled. Police said efforts were on to trace him.