Five killed as sleeping driver rams tree in Krishnagiri

KRISHNAGIRI: Five people including two women were killed while three others were badly injured in a road mishap after a Tata Sumo in which they were travelling rammed a road side tamarind tree near Pochampalli in Krishnagiri district early Wednesday morning. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the accident took place after the driver fell asleep.
The deceased have been identified as A Kattu Raja (45), K Malarvizhi (40), K Palani (60), P Pathma (55) from Amman Koil Pathi village and N Rajendran (42) from Naagarkuttai in Pochampalli taluk. According to Barur police, Kattu Raja, a truck driver in Pochampalli, usually visited the Karuppasamy temple in Theni district on ‘Amavashya’. “On Tuesday, he decided to visit the temple ,” police said.
On Monday night around 9pm, Kattu Raja, his wife Malarvizhi, his father-in-law K Palani, mother-in-law Pathma, his daughter Vasika (15), son Vasanth (7) and their friend K Senthamarai (40) wife of V Kumar from Vadambalapatti village and N Rajendran started on their trip in a Sumo car belonging to the latter who was at the wheels,” the police said.
They reached Karuppasamy temple on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday night, they started their return journey to Pochampalli. Around 4.30am on Wednesday morning, when the car neared Puliyur near Pochampalli, it suddenly rammed a roadside tamarind tree. Kattu Raja, Malarvizhi, Palani, Pathma and Rajendran succumbed to severe head injuries while Senthamarai, Vasika and Vasanth sustained injuries including fractures.
The injured were rushed to the Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital. Police have sent the bodies to the same hospital for post-mortem. “A case has been registered based on the complaint lodged by kin of the deceased. Further investigations are underway,” police said.