Chennai: Drunk man lying on road run over by car

Chennai: An unidentified drunk man was killed as he slept on a street corner in T.Nagar, and was run over by a car driven by a businessman. Police identified the businessman as Sathya Narayanan (50), resident of Sandeep Road, in Neelangkarai.

Police said on Saturday morning, Sathya Narayanan was heading to T. Nagar to visit his father Palani, who stayed on Vijaya Raghavan Salai.

When he was near the house, he ran over an unidentified drunk man lying on the roadside corner. Police said Sathya Narayanan allegedly did not notice the victim lying on the road in the street corner, under the influence of alcohol.

Hearing the man's scream, Narayanan stopped the car and realized that he had run his car over him. Sources said he quickly rushed the man who was fighting for life to a nearby private hospital, but doctors there pronounced him ‘dead on arrival.’

Eyewitnesses who came in support of the driver, said that the drunk man was not visible lying on the road, and the car ran over him. Looking back, he saw the man on the ground and immediately stopped and took him to the hospital.

Teynampet police were alerted. A case was registered and the body of the man was sent to the Royapettah government hospital for post-mortem. Police said they are trying to find out details of the dead man.

The businessman was taken into custody and investigations are underway.