Techie negotiating crater-likespot mowed down by truck

Bengaluru: A 31-year-old scooter-borne techie negotiating a crater-like depression on Gear School Road in Kadubeesanahalli , off Outer Ring Road, was killed after a trailer truck hit him early Thursday. The truck dragged the victim and the bike for nearly 25ft before its driver fled the spot. Sai Raj Bilgundi, a resident of Kadubeesanahalli and employee of an IT firm, was near his workplace and came across an elevated patch formed by a duct whose cover was a few inches above the road. A few feet later, there was another duct a few inches below the road surface and appeared like a crater. Raj was trying to negotiate the second duct when the truck carrying cement bricks from Kadubeesanahalli to Bellandur rammed him between 4.55am and 5am. "I was coming from the opposite direction. The deceased on the scooter was at his normal speed. As soon as he saw a rectangular duct, which is placed a little lower than the road surface level, he tried to avoid it. A speeding trailer truck hit him and dragged the body and the bike for 25 feet. The driver left the vehicle and fled from the spot. The guy on the scooter died on the spot," said Vishwa Venkata Reddy, from Kadubeesananalli who witnessed the event. Sai, who is from Kalaburagi district, had been living in Bengaluru for more than 10 years. He was working as a senior network engineer in the IT firm and was living in a room alone. However, the reason why he came out early in the morning is unknown. Both ducts were for laying OFC cable and were five feet apart. A couple of feet next to the elevated duct was a small open duct. DCP (traffic-east) Kuldeep Kumar Jain told they will issue notices to BBMP and BWSSB seeking explanation about the accident . BWSSB officials said they were nowhere related to the ducts. BBMP chief engineer (Mahadevapura) M Lokesh confirmed the two closed ducts were for laying OFC. "Every company which will run their cables through these ducts is responsible for repair and maintenance of the ducts. We will check which company has got permission at this location and hold them accountable," he added. Sai's friends said he was never a morning person. "We have known him for more than 14 years. Sometimes, we wake him up to go to the office. We are unable to guess why he came out so early. Though we all play badminton regularly, he wouldn't have gone out at 4am to play badminton," they said. "He was wearing a jacket and boxers, which means he was not travelling anywhere far," they added. According to the eyewitness, there was no badminton racket or any sports gear with him at the accident spot. Citizens had already flagged the issue. Umamahesh Pendyala, a resident of nearby Panathur, said they had flagged the issue of the duct covers not being at grade the the road surface on BBMP's Sahaaya app a few weeks ago. "Now, who should be blamed? I usually travel through that road. Looking at the spot with three dangerous spots next to each other, I knew someone would fall. Hence, I had raised a ticket on BBMP's Sahaaya app on Sept 7. Now, it is marked as a long-term resolution. I had also raised the issue multiple times in our ward committee groups, and no action was taken. We lost a life today. When will civic agencies wake up? How many more accidents should happen for them to provide good infrastructure? Will our agencies get alert only after an accident?" he said. When TOI checked the accident spot later on Thursday, the small open duct was filled up, and a few workers were levelling both duct covers. MSID:: 113496078 413 |