The Ramanathapuram police are investigating an accident case where a 20-year-old pregnant woman was killed by a speeding SUV in Perungalam on Monday. A search run on the license board of the Innova car that hit the woman reveals that the vehicle belongs to JS Chandra Mouli, a relative of former Ramanathapuram Collector Veera Raghava Rao. The Hindu further reports that relatives of the victim are suspecting a cover up of the accident and have alleged that the police is attempting to shield the person behind the wheel.
According to the police, the 20-year-old woman Sathiyapriya was getting down at Perungalam at close to 7 pm from a bus. She and her mother-in-law were visiting a local hospital for a medical check up as she was nearing her due date. When they tried to cross the Ramanathapuram-Rameswaram highway, the speeding car hit both of them and they sustained head injuries. While Sathyapriya died before she could receive medical treatment, her mother-in-law Valli was admitted to a private hospital in Madurai in critical condition.
When TNM contacted the investigating officer , Uchipuli police inspector Senthilkumaran, he claimed that they were yet to identify who the driver was.
"We don't know who was driving the car. We also don't know who the car belongs to as we haven't checked documents yet," he claimed. "We will only get further details after investigation. We were busy with the post mortem procedure," he adds.
However Ramanathapuram SP E Karthik confirmed that Veera Raghava Rao's relatives including Chandra Mouli were present in the vehicle during the accident. The vehicle did not stop after crashing into the two women and the driver, who is yet to be identified, kept driving.
The former Collector has further assured the family that he will bear the medical expenses of the mother-in-law who is undergoing treatment.
It is to be noted that Veera Raghava Rao handed over the charge of the district to the new Collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver only on Sunday, a day before the accident. Uchipuli police have registered a case of fatal accident under Sections 304 (A) (Causing death by negligence) and 279 (Rash driving or riding on a public way), 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of Indian Penal Code.