Bengaluru Audi Crash: None of the Victims Wore Seat Belts, Car Was Being Driven Rashly, Police Say

The Bengaluru Police — investigating the horrific Audi Q3 car crash that killed seven people, including a DMK MLA’s son — said none of the victims were wearing seat belts as a result of which the safety airbags didn’t open.

The accident took place in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday after the car rammed into a footpath in Bengaluru’s Koramangala area. All the seven victims, including DMK MLA from Hosur Y Prakash’s son Karuna Sagar (25), died of grievous injuries received during the crash, police said.

The victims included three women and four men, and the car carried more than its capacity of five passengers. The other deceased were identified as Ishita Biswas (21) an MNC employee, Dhanusha M (29), a dentist from Kerala, Bindhu (28), Akshay Goel (25), also from Kerala who worked as a senior sales associate, Utsav (25) from Haryana, and Rohit (23) from Hubli.

Police told CNN-News18: “Karuna Sagar had come to Bangalore to meet his friends. The other six lived in paying guest accommodations. The friends had gone out together. We are investigating where and when. Karuna and Bindhu were planning to get married. Through Bindhu, Karuna knew the others,” the police said.

Karuna came to Bengaluru on August 30 at around 6pm and called his friends, the police said, adding that they are further investigating the matter by examining the statements of friends and family, and scanning multiple CCTV footage.

One of the CCTV footage, accessed by CNN-News18, showed that at around 1.50am, the speeding Audi Q3 crashed into the footpath breaking poles on the pavement placed to deter footpath riders. The car then rammed into the wall of Punjab National bank.

According to the preliminary investigation, the driver was even speeding the car. None of the victims were wearing seat belts as a result of which airbags did not open, police said. Airbags are meant to limit the impact of an accident on passengers by providing a cushion, and also prevent contact with the interior parts of the car.

The bodies were retrieved from the car with the help of an earthmover, and have been handed over to respective families after postmortem. A case has been registered under IPC sections 304A and 279.

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