A speeding BMW, allegedly driven by a Rajasthan legislator's son, rammed an auto-rickshaw and a police van.
Highlights
- Speeding BMW rammed into auto-rickshaw, parked police van in Jaipur
- Police say lawmaker's son was driving car that killed 3, injured 5
- Siddharth Mehria says his driver was at the wheel during the incident
The son of a Rajasthan legislator who allegedly killed three people by crashing his BMW car into an auto-rickshaw this morning has been arrested in Jaipur, police said.
The incident took place around 2 am today when the speeding white car, allegedly driven by Siddharth Mehria, 20, son of independent legislator from Sikar, Nand Kishore Mehria, collided into the auto-rickshaw first and then a stationary police van.
"He was driving at least at 100 km an hour," said Rajju, one of the four policemen who were injured. The auto-rickshaw, which was first hit, was flung around 200 feet from the impact, witnesses said.
Police sources said Mr Mehria appeared to have been drunk at the time and a breathalyser test showed he had alcohol five times over permissible levels. "We will send his blood sample to the forensic lab to verify," a police officer said.
Rejecting the charges, Mr Mehria, has said that it was his driver and not him who was driving the car at the time of the incident.
"The whole thing happened because of the rain and there were no lights on the road. The auto was crossing the road at a great speed. The right side of my vehicle banged into the right wheel of the auto and then my car hit the police van," Siddharth Mehria said.
The badly mangled chassis of the BMW and that all four airbags were deployed, however suggested a more powerful impact, raising questions on Mr Mehria's account.
"That was probably because my driver got confused between brake and accelerator in the panic," Mr Mehria said.
Policemen who were present on the scene in the van however said the politician's son was at the wheel when the accident happened.
Speaking to NDTV, a relative of one of the victims said, "We are very poor people. My brother-in-law was the only child. He was coming back from the shop where he works."