The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Girl chased by drunken youth, run over

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 20, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Girl chased by drunken youth, run over

By K. Manikandan

CHENNAI, SEPT. 19. A 21-year-old girl on a scooter, who was chased by four drunken youths in a car, was run over on Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai, Mylapore, well past midnight on Saturday.

Stephanie, working in a call centre at Tidel Park, was leaving a hotel when the drunken youths chased the girl in their Honda City, redesigned as a Sports Utility Vehicle model. They chased her up to the Nilgiris Supermarket. Near the R.K.Salai — Sullivan's Garden Road junction, the car driver overtook the scooter and while trying to intercept her, swerved to the left, but dashed against the scooter. Stephanie was thrown off her vehicle and run over. She died on the spot.

The car, which had the words `Venom Racing' stuck all over, then hit a pavement and came to a halt after hitting a transformer post.

Traffic police said a resident alerted the control room. A patrol team went to the spot and arrested Venkatesan (21); Nestle, (19), a second year student of a city college; Denver, 16, a plus two student of a private school at Vepery and Raja, 22, a bill collector with a mobile phone company.

Shastry Nagar traffic police, who are investigating, said blood tests confirmed that all of them were drunk. A case was registered under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code — culpable homicide not amounting to murder. They have been remanded to judicial custody till October 1. If proved guilty, the youths could be jailed for ten years.

Senior police officials said that as of now they had not charged the youth with eve-teasing. Whether the youths harassed her from the hotel to the accident spot could be ascertained only after further investigation, they said.

Relatives angry

Relatives of Stephanie, who came to the Shastry Nagar police station, were an inconsolable lot. They gave vent to their anger on seeing the four youths. Patricia, victim's mother, pleaded to cameramen not to take any pictures. Policemen did not allow photographers to take pictures of the youths.

A senior police officer said several scuffles and accidents due to drunken driving were reported near hotels that had bars attached. They identified at least three hotels in south Chennai, which had bars and doubled up as nightclubs as they had dance floors.

It was still not clear if the bars were open beyond the stipulated time. The drive against drunken driving would be intensified. The police would also look into the functioning of bars attached to star hotels and stern action would be taken if irregularities were detected, the officer said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu