3 people killed as inebriated 18-year-old rams car into taxi, hits cyclists in Mohali

Three people were killed and as many injured as an inebriated 18-year-old allegedly rammed his Mercedes into a taxi after jumping a red light in Mohali and then hit two cyclists, police said on Sunday.

The teenager, Samrat of Chandigarh, who allegedly was driving the luxury car, was arrested, they said. Two occupants of the taxi, Dharampreet Singh and Ankush Narula, and a cyclist, Ram Prasad, died, while three people sustained injuries in the crash near the Radha Soami Chowk on Saturday, the police said.

The police have booked Samrat and his friends Arjun and Prabhnoor, who were accompanying him in the Mercedes. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Mohali, Satinder Singh said the trio in the luxury car were drunk when the accident took place.

They fled after the crash, he said, adding neither did they inform the police nor called an ambulance. The police have recovered empty bottles of liquor from the Mercedes, the SSP said, adding Samrat did not have a driving licence.

The police are conducting raids and will arrest the other two soon too, he added. A criminal case has been registered under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Mataur police station against the accused.

Investigations will be completed in the next two weeks, and the court will be asked to conduct a speedy trial to give an exemplary punishment to the culprits, the SSP further said.