22-year-old Chennai techie mowed down by truck while trying to avoid pothole; Zoho CEO blames 'bad roads'

Chennai, Jan 04: A 22-year-old software engineer died after being mowed down by a truck near Maduravoyal in Chennai on Tuesday.

The unfortunate incident occurred around 7:20 am when the victim identified as Shobana was taking her brother Harish, a class 12 student, to his school in Mogappair when her bike hit a pothole. After the brother-sister duo fell down on the service road of the bypass, Shobana was crushed by a fast-approaching lorry, killing her on the spot.

On information, Poonamallee Traffic investigation wing rushed to the scene and moved Shobana's body to a government hospital for post-mortem. Her brother is undergoing treatment at a private hospital.

The Poonamallee police have registered a case and started an investigation after sending the victim's body for postmortem. "She lost control of her two-wheeler when she hit a pothole on the road. Her brother was present with her and sustained injuries, admitted to hospital," Poonamallee Police told ANI.

Police arrested the truck driver, B Mohan, on charges of rash driving and causing death by negligence. He was produced before a magistrate and was remanded in custody.

''None of them were wearing helmets. The truck driver, Mohan arrested on charges of rash driving and causing death by negligence. Civic authorities repaired the damaged portions of the road,''the police was quoted as saying.

Police said that following the incident, civic authorities have filled the potholes and repaired the damaged portions of the road.

Zoho CEO blames bad roads

Shobana was working with Tamil Nadu-headquartered software firm Zoho. Sridhar Vembu, the CEO of Zoho, blamed Chennai's bad roads for the accident. Taking to micro-blogging platform Twitter, he wrote,''"One of our engineers, Ms. Shobana died tragically when her scooter skidded in the heavily potholed roads near Maduravoyal in Chennai. She was taking her younger brother to school. Our bad roads have caused a tragic loss to her family and Zoho.''

The incident comes days after a gruesome case in Delhi on New Year's morning shocked India. A 20-year-old woman, Anjali Singh, was dragged for several kilometers underneath a car after she fell off her scooty on being hit by the four-wheeler. Anjali's leg had got stuck in the axle.