A leader of the BJP youth wing rammed his car into a group of people in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, killing an 11-year-old boy and a senior citizen, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place on Friday night in the Porsa area when Dipendra Bhadoria, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), lost control of his speeding vehicle while driving from Porsa towards Jotai and hit people who were sitting around a bonfire to keep warm, eyewitnesses said.
Bhadoria, who is the BJYM’s Porsa urban mandal president, was allegedly in an inebriated state at the time of the accident.
He was caught by people in the vicinity after the crash.
Two of the victims, Ramdatt Rathore, 65, and Arnav alias Annu Lashkar, 11, sustained critical injuries and were rushed to the divisional headquarters in Gwalior for advanced treatment, where they died after midnight, Sub-Divisional Officer of Police Ravi Bhadoria told PTI.
Three others, Kamlesh Rathore, Girraj Rathore and Abhishek Tomar, are undergoing treatment.
Police said the accused was initially caught but managed to escape from police custody before being apprehended again in the early hours of Saturday.
According to the police, post-mortem examinations will be conducted on Saturday, after which the bodies will be brought to Porsa for the last rites.
Locals said there was chaos at the spot following the crash, and Bhadoria was thrashed by angry residents before being handed over to the police.
They added that residents later blocked the highway after learning that the accused had escaped from police custody.