Three young men died on the spot in Hyderabad late on Monday night, after the bike that they were on, rammed into a pillar of the city's Metro Rail. The incident took place opposite the Mettuguda fuel station.
The deceased were identified as Prithvi Raj, Uday Reddy and B Uday. Two of them were 21 years old while one was aged 24. While two of them were engineering students who studied at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology (MGIT) and the Guru Nanak Institute of Technology (GNIT), the third was said to be a private employee.
The police said that the trio were riding triples and none of them were wearing helmets. They were on their way to Uppal, to eat at a food outlet that stayed open till late in the night at around 2 am, and tried to overtake a car, when the mishap occurred, according to authorities.
“Uday possessed a driving licence and they were riding at a high speed, probably because it was late night and the roads were comparatively empty. While trying to overtake a car, they rammed into the Metro pillar,” Lalaguda police inspector, G. Srinivasu was quoted as saying.
“The road stretch is properly illuminated and signboards are also there. The divider was also painted recently,” the police added.
The bodies were shifted to the Gandhi Hospital for an autopsy and later handed over to their families. According to media reports, the trio had known each other for many years and news of the incident cast a pall of gloom over each of their homes.
The police has also examined CCTV footage of the incident and based on a complaint, a case has been filed. Further investigation is underway.
Meanwhile, in another incident in Hyderabad, four engineering students who were travelling in a car escaped unhurt after the driver lost control of the vehicle, allegedly due to overspeeding, and the vehicle plunged into the Hussainsagar lake.
The incident took place in the early hours of Tuesday and the occupants of the car were rescued by the lake police. The vehicle was later removed from the water with the help of a crane.