Car Runs Over Couple Near Lingaraj Temple In Bhubaneswar; One Dead

Bhubaneswar: A woman died and her husband was grievously injured after a car ran over them while the driver was reversing the vehicle at a high speed near Lingaraj temple in Odisha capital late on Sunday.

The deceased has been identified as Sulochana Mohanty. She died on the spot. Her husband, Jurinath Bibarta, was admitted to Capital Hospital and later shifted to AIIM-Bhubaneswar in critical condition, sources said.

The accident took place at the parking lot near Northern gate of the 11th-century shrine around 11 pm. The driver and other occupants of the car fled soon after the accident. The couple from Ganjam’s Digapahandi  were at the temple for Paya Shraddha, a ritual where people pay obeisance to their ancestors, and were scheduled to visit the pilgrim town of Puri this morning.

While Lingaraj police have seized the vehicle and scanning CCTV footage to identify the driver. The car reportedly belongs to one Gautam Mishra of Old Town area and he is likely to be questioned in connection with the accident.

It is being suspected the driver was either in an inebriated condition or on phone while reversing the vehicle and was not well versed with the gear system of the recently-bought automatic car, the sources added.