Two dead as BJP MLA CT Ravi SUV runs over them near Kunigal

​BENGALURU: On Tuesday at 2 AM in the Tumkur district two youths Shashi Kumar, 28, and Sunil Gowda, 27, had died on the spot as a speeding SUV of the BJP MLA CT Ravi in which he was travelling ran over them and two stationary vehicles near Kunigal.

The duo along with other youths were returning from a pilgrimage of temples from the district of Dakshina Kannada in two sedans and one MUV and pulled over by the roadside to take a break. The friends of the victims and locals, accused that the legislator was trying to leave the spot in a haste. Ravi had denied the allegation. 

Ravi said that, he was in the backseat, and his gunman sat next to the driver, R Akash. As they were heading to Bangalore from Chikmagalur, for the assembly constituency of the MLA. Akash lost control over the SUV near Urkehalli gate and rammed the two sedans which were parked on the left side of the road and ran over Shashi and Sunil before the vehicle stopped. 

Chetan Kumar, a friend of the duo, said that “We left Kollur on Monday night and stopped near Uttarahalli to relieve ourselves. Sunil, Shashi and two others were standing next to the cars, while others and I were inside the vehicle. Suddenly, there was a loud thud and we felt a jolt. Before realising that our vehicles had been hit, we heard the cries of Sunil and Shashi. It was pitch dark and headlights of passing vehicles unravelled the tragedy. An SUV had rammed our vehicles. Sunil and Shashi had died, while two others sustained injuries. Then we saw CT Ravi. He was holding his chest in pain and there were two others in the car. We don’t know who was driving the vehicle as all of them had got down.”

The eyewitness at the spot said that, “Ravi and his gunman understood that the two men were dead. We sought his help in shifting the injured ones to hospital and arrange for their treatment. But, we gathered from Ravi’s conversations on phone that he was planning to reach Bengaluru in a friend’s vehicle.”

Later, the police reached the spot and a police officer said that, “We shifted the bodies to Tumkur government hospital and took the injured ones to a private hospital. Ravi was at the spot till the bodies were shifted and the injured were shifted. Ravi said he’ll visit a hospital in Bengaluru. Since the MLA’s driver was with us, we allowed him to continue his journey.”

The driver has been arrested and taken into custody by the police. “We subjected him to medical test and found that he was not under the influence of alcohol,” said the police.