Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police on Wednesday arrested the driver of the tipper involved in the deadly accident at Palasuni here on Monday. The driver, identified as Soubhagya Patra is a native of Bhoagada village in Khurda.
Mancheswar police have arrested him in this case which led to the death of an engineer who was driving an ill-fated car. Patra lost control of the heavy vehicle which rammed into at least three cars, one motorcycle and a truck.
According to the police, the accident was a result of an overloaded tipper which was driven by Patra. A CCTV camera on a commercial establishment captured the sequence of events that led to the horrifying crash, clearly showing rash and negligent driving.
However, it has also been reported that the tipper driver was in an inebriated condition on that day. According to sources, while being interrogated, Patra said that he could not spot the ‘small car’ as he was concentrating on a heavy vehicle ahead. The statement does not sound genuine, and there is a strong suspicion that he was drunk, a police official said.
While Patra is in police custody, and precious life is lost, Palasuni mishap is an alarm for the enforcement authorities to check overspeeding and overloading on the flowery overbridges bisecting Bhubaneswar, along NH 16. “Need of the hour, interceptor vans and stringent enforcement, else such tragedies will continue,” an eyewitness of the incident said.
