Drunk woman drives into footpath, kills man

The suspect, a student in London, had double the legal limit of alcohol in blood

 A drunk woman drove a car over the footpath, killing a 50-year-old man and injuring a youth besides damaging the compound wall of a house and a motorcycle.

The accident occurred at Moodalappa Street in Doddamavalli, central Bengaluru, on Wednesday night.

Bhavatarini, an MBA student at the University of Westminster, London, partied with friends on MG Road before taking the wheel to reach her home at Rajajinagar.

She passed by Lalbagh main gate and the park’s western gate. She then drove into Moodalappa Street around 11.05 pm. At this juncture, she lost control over the car which climbed up the footpath in no time.

The automobile hit Subramanya, who was sitting on a stone slab on the footpath. The car then crashed into the compound wall of a house and a motorcycle parked outside. It also struck Sujith, 26, who was walking on the roadside, and came to a halt.

Bystanders alerted the jurisdictional KR Market traffic police who rushed to the spot and detained Bhavatarini. They took Subramanya and Sujith to hospital where the former was declared brought dead. Sujith was given first aid and discharged.

Police subjected Bhavatarini to breath test and the reading showed she had 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood. The permissible limit is 40 mg per 100 ml of blood. Police collected her blood sample and sent it for forensic examination. The report is awaited, a senior police officer said.

Bhavatarini has been booked under sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) of the IPC. A local court has remanded her in judicial custody.

The suspect had arrived in Bengaluru 12 days ago to spend time with her family. Interestingly, a ‘Press’ sticker was found pasted on the windscreen of her car. Police found that she previously worked as a reporter for a magazine whose office is located on Residency Road. She quit the job and moved to London.

The deceased, Subramanya, a resident of Thyagarajanagar, was running a tailoring shop at Doddamavalli. The injured, Sujith, is a resident of Doddamavalli and works at a private company. When DH contacted him, he refused to talk about the accident.