No bail for bizman who ran over platform dweller, washed blood off tyres

CHENNAI: A city court dismissed the bail application moved by a businessman, who ran over a platform-dweller in Egmore 10 days ago and drove off without stopping the car. He then washed the blood off the tyres, allegedly intending to destroy evidence.

The Anna Square Traffic Investigation Wing (TIW) personnel arrested the accused, Abishek Kankaria, a painting contractor, after perusing the CCTV footage at the scene of the crime.

Around 2.20 am on February 11, the accused ran over a man sleeping on the platform along Tamil Salai in Egmore and drove off without stopping despite onlookers trying to stop the vehicle. A police team rushed to the scene and moved the injured man to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) where he was declared brought dead.

The deceased was identified as Rajendran (56) who works as a helper at a roadside eatery near Egmore children’s hospital. Police investigations revealed that he usually sleeps on the platform on Tamil Salai.

V Chinnakunju (56), a security guard at a building near the accident scene who witnessed the incident, told the police that he could not note down the registration number of the vehicle, after which police started perusing CCTVs in the area.

Based on CCTV evidence, Anna Square TIW arrested the businessman, Abishek Kankaria, on February 13 and found that he had washed the blood stains off the car. He was booked under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of IPC, and sections of the Motor Vehicles Act. He was produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody the same day.

On Monday, accepting the prosecutor’s argument that the investigation was still in the preliminary stage, a city court dismissed the accused’s bail application.