The damaged car after an accident in Pipli. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, May 8: Family members of a youth, who died in a road accident near Pipli last night, created a ruckus at the Capital Hospital today claiming that he had been murdered. The family members and relatives of the 29-year-old deceased, Sudhir Behera, argued with the police refusing to accept that it was a case of accident.

The accident, according to Sudhir’s friends, took place last night near the Pipli Square on the National Highway 203. Sudhir, who worked in a construction company, lived in the Unit IX area of Bhubaneswar.

According to his friends, they had gone to Pipli to have food in a dhaba. While eating, they had heard a sound. “When we came out, we found a car lying on the roadside. While we, along with Sudhir, were trying to help the occupants of the vehicle, a truck hit the car and ran over him,” said Radhakant Mohapatra, a friend, who had left the construction company recently to work independently.

They chased the vehicle and caught its driver. Later, they took Sudhir to the hospital, where he was declared brought dead. Family members of Sudhir rushed the hospital in the morning after coming to know of the accident.

They claimed that they did find any major wounds on the body. They alleged that he had been murdered. “When we asked one of his friends who was in the hospital, he gave a number of contradictory versions that created suspicion. Besides, other friends, who were also with him last night, were not in the hospital. Moreover, when we tried to contact them, their mobiles were found switched off,” said Sachidanand Behera, a relative of Sudhir. The family members of the victim demanded a thorough inquiry into the incident.

Sudhir was married and had a three-year-old son. While he stayed with his wife and son in the Unit-IX area, his other family members were staying at Niali in Cuttack. Radhakant said that he had lodged a complaint with the Pipli police station.“My car was damaged in the accident as the vehicle hit it first before hitting Sudhir,” said Radhakant. The Capital police have registered an unnatural death case and sent Sudhir’s body for postmortem. The family members said that they would lodge a complaint against Sudhir’s friends. “As we were not at the spot, we cannot even buy the stories told by his friends. Right now, we are eagerly waiting for the postmortem report,” said Srichandan Das, a relative of Sudhir.