KANPUR: Three farmers died allegedly after being run over by the vehicle of a Public Works Department official in Kanpur’s Bilhaur town, police said.
The vehicle, which belongs to a junior engineer of the PWD Ayodhya, was being driven by driver Ajeet Kumar Pandey when the incident took place on Monday evening, they said.
The preliminary investigation revealed that Pandey was in an inebriated state while driving the car, Bilhaur SHO Surendra Singh said.
Pandey was on his way to Ayodhya after dropping the junior engineer’s family in Sikandara in Kanpur Dehat when he lost control of the vehicle on the Lucknow-Etawah road and ran over Surendra Singh (62), Ahibaran Singh (63) and Ghaseete Yadav (65), police said.
The three elderly farmers, all residents of Billhaur, died on the spot.
“We suspect that Pandey was driving the vehicle negligently when the accident took place,” the SHO said.
The accused driver fled from the spot after the accident, leaving the damaged SUV behind. He was later arrested, he said.
An FIR has been registered under relevant sections of the IPC at the Bilhaur police station, the SHO added.