The teenage son of Samajwadi Party legislator Shadaad Fatima was arrested for crushing three people to death under his car and injuring five others.
LUCKNOW: In yet another case of drunken driving involving children of VIPs, Kasif Abbas, son of Uttar Pradesh MLA Shadab Fatima, allegedly mowed down four persons and injured eight others sleeping on a pavement here early today.
19-year-old Abbas was driving his mother's red-beaconed sports utility vehicle when he lost control over the vehicle and ran over eight persons, killing three on the spot and also hit four bikers before colliding with an electric pole and a betel shop in Parivartan Chowk area, police said.
The injured were rushed to the hospital, where one Jagdish succumbed to injuries. Those killed included two rickshaw pullers --Lakshman (50) and Hasan (45) and an unidentified 14-year-old.
"Beer cans and cigarette packets are recovered from the Safari. It's case of drunken driving and strict action is being initiated against the accused. A case under section 304 (culpable homicide) of CrPC has been registered against him", IG Lucknow Zone A K Jain said.
UP DGP Vikram Singh said Abbas did not have a driving license and was arrested.
Abbas, who was caught from the spot by passers-by and handed over to police while he was trying to flee, is the son of Samajwadi Party MLA from Ghazipur Shadab Fatima, who is also Chairperson of UP Upbhokta Sahkari Sangh while his father is an engineer.
"I lost control while trying to save two bikers. I was not drunk", Abbas told reporters in police custody before being produced to the local court here.
Remand magistrate Saif Ahmad sent Abbas to judicial remand till April 29. The magistrate will also hear the bail application of the accused on that day.
Earlier an application was moved on behalf of the prosecution that according to prima facie evidence the matter fell under purview of section 302 (murder) instead of section 304 (culpable homicide) of the CrPC.
Taking a serious view of the incident, the Chief Minister's secretariat directed the health department to ensure effective treatment of the injured, who reportedly were discharged from the trauma centre after first-aid.
Betel shop owner Chand Babu, who was injured in the incident, said he only remembers loud cries and splash of blood on his face before becoming unconscious.
"The safari first hit bikers and than ran over people sleeping on pavement. The injured were writhing in pain and smashed dead bodies and blood were scattered everywhere on the pavement", an eyewitness said.
A sizeable number of youth from high profile families have been involved in similar cases.
Sanjeev Nanda, the grandson of the ex-chief of Naval Staff was accused of running over and killing six people in a drunken state, in January 1999.
In November 2006, Mumbai based businessman's son Alistair Pereira was accused of ramming his car into hutments in Bandra in an inebriated state, killing seven construction worker sleeping on the footpath.
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