Law student loses life to speed

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana May 6

A law student died on the spot after his car rammed into a tree on the PAU road in Kitchlu Nagar late on Friday night.

The collision was so powerful that the Swift Dzire (PB10 CP7291) ripped into two pieces. The deceased has been identified as Karan Arora (23), a resident of Tagore Nagar. He was pursuing LLB from Pune. He had come to the city for vacations.

As per the police, the boy was heading home after meeting his friend residing on Hambran road.

Had the collision not been with the tree, the car would have rammed into a house, which could have caused more casualties. The impact of the collision was such that even the air bags failed to save the victim. The car was reportedly at a speed between 140 and 150 kmph when the accident occurred as the needle of the speed meter got stuck at 140 kmph.

ASI Sukhdeep Singh, investigation officer, Kitchlu Nagar police post, said the police reached the spot within a few minutes of the accident. Several people also gathered and helped in taking out the body from the car. “The boy was badly stuck in the car. It took around half-an-hour to take out the body. It was completely mutilated and the boy had already succumbed,” Singh said.

“What our preliminary investigation suggests is that the boy was reportedly driving at around 150 kmph speed, due to which he failed to control the car,” the ASI said.

Had plans to go to US

A police official said since the deceased was studying in Pune, he had especially come home to complete paper work as he had plans to go to the US.

Eye witnesses said the collision was so strong that it emitted bomb-like sound.

Rohit, a security guard at a hospital near the accident spot, came out of the hospital after duty hours with his friend and saw the damaged vehicle stuck in tree. Then, the police and people gathered and started with the rescue operation. The body was badly crushed in the car and it was obvious that the boy was already dead.

Another area resident said after he heard a bomb-like sound, he came out to enquire and was stunned to see that the tree was literally pitched in the middle of the car. “I also saw an Audi car on the road and it seemed that the deceased must be racing with another car,” an eye witness told reporters.

53 lives lost in past three months

Over 53 people have died in road accidents, comprising hit and run and other road crashes, in the last three months. Overspeeding is found to be the main cause of such accidents. Despite a spurt in road accident cases, the city police lack speed radars due to which no routine challans of overspeeding are being conducted by the city traffic police.