A day after the death of Gautham Dev, a resident of Hyderabad in a drunk-driving accident, Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar on Saturday warned of action against the pub managements which allow their customers to drive in a drunken condition. The Commissioner said that the managements knowingly allowing their customers to drive in a drunken state would also be prosecuted under the relevant laws.
On Friday, Gautham, a manager at the Secunderabad Club, was killed in an accident at Madhapur, Cyber Towers, where a Mercedes car driven by a man identified as Mancham Kashi Vishwanath broke the traffic signal and hit the bike in which Gautham and his wife were riding. In the accident, Gautham died instantaneously, while his wife, who was the pillion rider, sustained injuries.
Following the incident, the Commissioner warned of initiating stringent legal action against offenders who drive under the influence of alcohol. The Commissioner said that the offenders who cause fatalities in drunken-driving would be prosecuted under the provisions of section 304 part II of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) for which the punishment involves imprisonment upto 10 years, he said.
“Each and every road accident case is monitored by the RTAM cell (Road Traffic Accident Monitoring Cell) and all the persons involved in the road accident are subjected to BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) tests without fail to identify the persons driving under the influence of alcohol. No one can escape the legal action after committing any road accident under the influence of alcohol,” Sajjanar said.
Further, he said that special teams will work continuously to apprehend persons in hit and run cases. “More stringent action against such persons will be taken for causing disappearance of evidence, not helping the injured persons for medical care, etc. If anyone does not cooperate for an alcohol test, action will be taken under section 205 of the Motor Vehicles Act.”
The Commissioner said that the accused in the recent drunken-drive accidents in Madhapur and Gachibowli, would be dealt with strictly.