Engineer, auto driver killed in accident

Vani, who had stopped her scooter beside the autorickshaw at a traffic junction, escaped with a fracture in her leg.

Yeshwanth (25), a resident of Arakere, had joined the software major Hewlett Packard just weeks ago. He was engaged to his longtime friend and colleague. Police said Yeshwanth’s father is  chief manager in Syndicate Bank, Udupi.

Autodriver Shivakumar, in his mid-thirties, was married and lived with his family at Pillaganahalli on Bannerghatta Road.

Eye-witnesses told Deccan Herald that though the killer vehicle was the “ready-mix concrete” truck, the real culprit was a private bus driver who had taken off from the traffic signal at breakneck speed, forcing the truck onto the footpath. The truck driver lost control of the vehicle and rammed it into the autorickshaw, which got sandwiched between the truck and a BMTC bus (route 365), killing its two occupants instantly.

The truck driver abandoned the vehicle and managed to escape despite getting a few blows from the angry public. The private bus, too, sped away.

Couple killed

In another accident, a middle-aged couple died after a tipper lorry rammed into their moped near Rajajinagar I Block on Wednesday night.

The victims, Mahadevappa (55) and Yashodama (50), residents of Moodalapalya, were on their way home after having dinner. The accident occurred around 10.20 pm when the moped rider was about to take a left turn at the junction of  the  19th Main and 18th Cross near Diacon. Later, friends and relatives of the victims, who had rushed the injured couple to M S Ramaiah Hospital, staged a protest on the hospital premises accusing the authorities of negligence.

“For more than 45 minutes, the doctors were so careless, they did not even come anywhere near the victims. Later, they declared them dead,” fumed Anand, a relative.