Bhubaneswar, July 7: A businessman was killed in a road accident at Rasulgarh square early in the morning today while trying to cross the road.

According to police, the deceased, Ajay Kumar Hinduja,55, was returning to his house after offering prayers in the Banadurga temple near the traffic square when a speeding vehicle hit him.

Local residents said that Hinduja, the owner of Jalaram sweets, a popular sweet shop in the city, was crossing the road when a goods carrier coming from Cuttack side hit him.

“He was holding an umbrella in one hand and a flower basket in the other as it was raining. The umbrella prevented him from seeing the coming vehicle,” said an eyewitness.

The accident led to a traffic jam as the local residents gathered on the spot and stopping passing vehicles. Soon the Mancheswar police rushed to the spot and took the victim away to the hospital where he died following preliminary treatment.

The Mancheswar police registered a case against the unidentified vehicle driver under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304 (a) (causing death by negligence) of IPC.

The police said that the body was handed over to the man’s family members after postmortem.

The Rasulgarh Square has become a death trap for commuters as three persons have died in last seven months at the square and around 30 small and big accidents have occurred on the spot.

Several accidents have occured at the square where the road from Puri and from Mancheswar Industrial areas join the National Highway.

In view of this the National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) has decided to construct an overbridge here. The construction work for the overbridge has already started.

As there are two industrial areas — Rasulgarh industrial area and Mancheswar industrial area — on both sides of the square, heavy vehicles ply here always making it an accident prone zone. Police sources said they face problems in controlling the movement of vehicles at the square.