Minor Boy Driving Father's Car Runs Over 4 People On Footpath, Killing Them

A minor boy in the southern Indian state of Telangana took his dad's SUV to go to badminton practice but ended up running over 4 people sitting on a footpath Sunday morning.

Following the crash, the teen's father, a local businessman in the Karimnagar city, was arrested and charged with the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allowing his minor son to drive.

The teenager said that the dense fog in the wee hours of Sunday impacted his visibility and he lost control of the vehicle, which then rammed into the divider before running over the four people sitting on the pavement, Wings Daily News reported.

Three women, aged between 27 to 32 years, and a 14-year-old girl died following the mishap, a police official told the outlet. Three of them died on the spot whilst one died on the way to the hospital. Two other persons, who were injured in the incident, were taken to the hospital. The deceased persons were identified as P Lalitha, 27, P Sunita, 30, P Pariyang, 32, S Jyoti, 14, according to The Times Of India.

Karimnagar Police Commissioner V Satyanarayana told Wings Daily News that the minor pressed the accelerator instead of the brakes and hit the three women and the young girl on the pavement. The minor, who was accompanied by his two friends, both 14-year-old, fled the spot leaving the car.

Satyanarayana told The Times Of India that the teenager was spotted driving on the road in the past also. He said the child took the route to go to a local stadium to play badminton. "In the past too he had driven the car on the same route to go to the stadium. On some occasions, he rode a bicycle too."

None of the children suffered injuries in the crash. Police said the laborers earlier lived in makeshift huts on the footpath but were later removed by police and municipal authorities. They used to make a living by selling sheepskin and goat legs.