Shamshabad police have found an empty vodka bottle in the rear seat of the Skoda car which was being driven by Tollywood actor Ravi Teja’s brother, Bharath Raju, who died in a road accident on Saturday night.
However, police are yet to confirm whether liquor had been consumed by him before driving.
“We are yet to find out whether he was under the influence of alcohol or not. But he was speeding, which led to his death,” Inspector M Mahesh of the RGI Airport police station told The News Minute.
According to The Hindu, viscera sample has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory to determine the presence of any intoxicating substances in his body.
Police say Bharath was driving at high speed on the Outer Ring Road near Kotwalguda in Shamshabad Mandal. The accident took place when his car rammed into the back of a stationary lorry.
It was reported that Bharath was alone in the car at the time of the accident. It took the police nearly 45 minutes to extract Bharat’s body from the vehicle.
The actor was driving in the extreme left lane
The actor was travelling from a hotel in Shamshabad to Gachibowli, when the incident took place.
Following the crash, the speedometer needle of the actor’s Skoda vehicle reportedly froze at 150 kmph.
According to reports, Bharath was driving at high speed on the extreme left in Lane 5, which is an emergency lane and is used by broken down vehicles.
“Despite creating much awareness about the lane system and speed limit on ORR, Bharath jumped lanes and went into a lane which was not meant for cars. This was one of the main reasons for the fatal accident, and over-speeding of course,” ACP Shamshabad Karolla Prasad told Deccan Chronicle.
The lorry which was rammed by the actor was said to be parked in the emergency lane, due to a mechanical defect.
Police registered a case under section 304-A (negligence causing death) of IPC.