Ranchi: Speeding and speaking on the cellphone while driving led to two accidents late on Sunday night and Monday morning here, in which one was killed and five others were injured.

In the mishap on Sunday night around 11.30pm at Bahu Bazar in Chutia, 21-year-old Sidhant Kumar at the wheel lost control of his car (JH 05BL 9099) and rammed it first against an electric pole and then against a tailoring shop which killed him instantly and tossed his two friends Rohan Kumar and Kumar Krishna out of the vehicle.

Police found Namkum boy Siddhant dead on the driver's seat, having profusely bled from his nose, ears and mouth, and rushed his two friends to Gurunanak Hospital, from where the duo were referred to Medica where they are reportedly stable.

Son of construction company owner Sudesh Rakesh Tirkey, Siddhant was home from Calcutta where he used to study and met up with his friends Rohan and Krishna from Ranchi's Chutia and Dhanbad, respectively.

Police suspect that the three youths were drunk, but are awaiting test results, a statement from the injured and a technical examination of the car from a motor vehicles inspector to arrive at a definitive conclusion.

"The impact of the mishap was massive. The pole is twisted and the metal shutters of the shop are damaged. These indicate the car was being driven at very high speed," said Chutia OC Anil Kumar Karn.

In the Monday morning accident, an auto driver who was allegedly talking on the cellphone while speeding with five passengers near Shaheed grounds, Jagannathpur, lost control of his vehicle that flipped around 10.20pm.

Fortunately, PCR (police control room) van 13 was stationed barely 100 meters from the accident spot, which immediately rushed three injured passengers Mickey Oraon (20), Kanchan Malaika (35) and Anshu Nisha (14) to HEC hospital.

"Residents of Nagri, they miraculously escaped with minor injuries. The PCR van dropped them to their homes safely after the hospital released them," said ASI Narhari Singh Munda of PCR van.

With everyone busy rescuing the injured, the auto driver managed to escape with his vehicle. Eyewitness Ganpati Kumar, an HEC resident, said it was the driver's fault. "The auto driver was speaking on his cellphone. As I was on my bike, I could gauge his speed was not less than 60kmph," said the man who was among those who rushed to help the injured.