A six-year-old boy was killed and four others were injured when a school student returning from a farewell party rammed his car into an autorickshaw and pedestrians in the Banthra area of Lucknow, police said on Friday.

The hit-and-run comes close on the heels of the arrest and swift bail of a tobacco
tycoon’s son accused of driving his Lamborghini into six pedestrians in Kanpur’s upscale Gwaltoli area earlier this week.

Police said the accused in Lucknow, Gaurav Singh, had been taken into custody and an FIR lodged on charges of reckless driving and endangering life. The police said Gaurav took advantage of the fact that he was in Class XII and claimed to be a minor, but his documents showed he was 21 and had a valid driving licence.

Gaurav is the son of cement and steel trader Ravindra Vikram Singh.

“Gaurav was behind the wheel at the time of the accident. We are interrogating him. He is a resident of Sohramau in Unnao district. He killed a six-year-old boy and injured five others,” Rana Rajesh Singh, in-charge of Banthara police station, told reporters.

According to the police, Gaurav and a female friend were returning home from a party when the Swift he was driving rammed into a stationary autorickshaw before running into pedestrians near a Hanuman temple around 8.30pm on Thursday.

Gaurav fled the spot, but locals caught hold of his friend and handed her over to the police. The police picked up Gaurav from his home on Friday morning and seized the car, which the accused had borrowed from a friend and bore a Kanpur registration number.

The vehicle, currently parked at the Banthra police station, has suffered extensive front-end damage, with
its left tyre almost completely mangled.

“Gaurav claimed he got confused between the brake and accelerator pedals following a tyre burst. We are verifying this. He tried to mislead us by saying he was a minor, but we got hold of his certificates, which show he is 21. Eyewitnesses have said he was drunk at the time of the incident,” a police officer said on the condition of anonymity.

He said, like Shivam Mishra of Kanpur, Gaurav came from money and seemed confident about getting out of this mess unscathed. “This is setting a wrong precedent. Rogue drivers with money will now think they can get away unpunished,” he added.

The injured were identified as Armaan, 12, Meena Devi, 60, her daughter Sadhana Patel, 32, Sadhana’s six-year-old son Dikshant, auto driver Awadh Bihari, 42, and Pramod Kumar, 20. All were taken to
a hospital.

Dikshant was referred to another medical facility where he succumbed to injuries during treatment, the police said.

Regional transport officer Sanjay Tiwari said: “We have suspended Gaurav’s driving licence for six months. His date of birth is January 21, 2005, and his driving licence was issued on February 13, 2024.”

Dikshant’s grandfather Santosh Kumar said the six-year-old was a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Unnao city. “His mother used to live in a rented room in Unnao city because of his education.”