Telangana Endowments Minister Indirakaran Reddy, whose car was involved in an accident that killed a teenager on Saturday, has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to the family of the victim. The Minister was not in the car when the accident took place near Nirmal town, about 200km from Hyderabad. Reddy has also announced that the victim Sathwik’s brother will be given a government job once he graduates.
On Saturday, the Minister’s driver had dropped his family at a local Ayyappa temple, and sped to refuel the car when he knocked down the 15-year-old student who was riding a motorcycle. The car, being driven at a high speed, hit the bike from behind and dragged the boy for a few feet before coming to a halt. A profusely bleeding Sathwik, a student of Class 9, was shifted to a hospital in Nizamabad, where he succumbed to his injuries.
The incident was captured on a CCTV camera. Following a protest by the victim's relatives demanding justice, police booked a case against the driver and arrested him.
The minister later posted on Twitter that the vehicle was not part of the convoy and that he was not present when the accident took place. He also claimed that the biker was at fault as he was speeding.
However, on Sunday afternoon, the minister had put blame on traffic police, his own government and also citizens for traffic issues. “Have requested many times to create a traffic police division for Nirmal. The file is pending with the government. Dividers on highways are being removed by the public,” he told TOI.
“The vehicle which was involved in the accident is a vehicle provided by the Government’s Protocol Department and the same is provided to all the ministers. The driver of the vehicle is also from the Protocol Department. When the accident took place, there was no motorcade and the vehicle is not a part of any convoy. The speeding vehicle was clearly seen in the CCTV footage, an FIR has been booked and driver has been arrested by the Nirmal Police,“ he said on his Facebook page.
“Will take up the matter with chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and will push for additional compensation and also a 2BHK house to the family in the government's housing-for-all project,“ he told Times of India.