SUV which ran over child in Hyderabad belong to MLA's kin

Hyderabad, March 18:  The SUV, which ran over street vendors, killing a two-month-old child, in Hyderabad on Thursday night belonged to a relative of a legislator.

Amir Shakil, a member of Legislative Assembly of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), on Friday admitted that the car belonged to his cousin and sometimes, he also uses it.

The MLA from Bodhan stated in a video message that after the accident, he spoke to his cousin and asked him to pay compensation to the family of the deceased. Terming the incident unfortunate, he said the police should take action as per law after investigation and scanning CCTV footage.

Shakil denied reports that his son was driving the vehicle. The MLA said the son of his cousin was at the wheels at the time of the accident and he escaped as some people present there had started beating him up.

A child was killed and four others injured as the speeding SUV hit street vendors in posh Jubilee Hills area on Thursday night.

The vehicle, which had temporary registration number, rammed a group of women selling balloons on Jubilee Hills Road Number 45 near the Cable Bridge. An MLA sticker was found pasted on Mahindra Thar.

After knocking down the vendors, the person driving the SUV escaped from the scene. The police on Friday arrested him. He was identified as Meraj.

According to police, after crossing the Cable Bridge, the SUV coming from Madhapur side hit the footpath vendors. Two infants who were in the laps of their mothers fell down. Later, one of them was declared dead at a nearby hospital.

Three women and a one-year-old child were taken to Apollo Hospital and later shifted to Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS). The victims were all migrants from Maharashtra who were living on the streets by selling balloons and begging. They said the speeding vehicle knocked them down when they were standing on the footpath and demanded justice.

However, in a curious turn on Friday, one of the women, Kajal left NIMS. Her relatives enquired with the hospital staff but did not get a convincing reply. Later, other injured women and their relatives also went untraced.