21-year-old fails to wear seatbelt, dies after car rams median at Velachery

CHENNAI: A 21-year-old college student died after he lost control of his car and rammed the centre median at Velachery in the early hours of Friday. Two of his friends who were with him survived with injuries, police said.

The deceased K Lithish of RA Puram was a third-year student at a private college in Padur near Kelambakkam. His father, Karthik is a television actor.

On Thursday night, Lithish and two friends were returning home after playing on turf at Medavakkam when they met with the accident around 2 am, police said. Nearing Taramani, Lithish, who was driving the car, lost control of the vehicle and rammed onto a centre median near the Vijayanagar bus stand.

Passersby rescued the trio from the mangled car and rushed them to a nearby private hospital. While Lithish was declared dead, the two others were admitted for treatment.

Lithish’s body was then sent to a Government Royapettah Hospital for a postmortem. Guindy TIW (Traffic Investigation Wing) has registered a case and is investigating.

Venkateswaralu, a retired bank staff and a family friend of the deceased said youngsters should take wearing seatbelts more seriously. “It seems the seat belt was not secured properly and when the crash happened, the steering wheel had rammed hard onto Lithish’s chest,” he said at the GRH mortuary adding that youngsters should understand the pain of family members.