Bengaluru: A gruesome crash on NICE Road in southwestern Bengaluru involving two SUVs led to the deaths of three men on Monday afternoon, police officers said.
The collision occurred near the Channasandra bridge around 3.30 pm. Kengeri traffic police, who attended to the scene of the crash, noted that the three men that were killed were travelling in a Mahindra Scorpio (KA 05 MQ 2629) at 160 kmph.
"The car's tyres grazed the side of the median and burst, which immediately threw the car over the median, toppling onto the other lane. It then ploughed into a Mahindra XUV700 coming in the opposite direction," an officer from the Kengeri traffic police station said.
The crash was so severe it reduced the Scorpio into twisted metal. The front portion of the XUV700 also suffered extensive damage.
The car was registered in the name of Raju, who the police suspect is a relative of one of the deceased.
The victims were identified as Nanjegowda (45), who ran a private transport business; Vinod (36), who was the driver of the car and was a member of a gram panchayat in Kanakapura; and Kumar H V (41), a member in a dairy co-operative. They were all residents of Shivanahalli and Hanumanhalli villages in Kanakapura taluk.
There were two people in the other car, both of whom escaped with minor injuries and are receiving treatment at a private hospital in southern Bengaluru.
M N Anucheth, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), who visited the scene, said that the crash was a prima facie case of speeding, with the speedometer in the Scorpio having stopped at 164 kmph. "The airbags were not deployed in the Scorpio. Airbags opened in the XUV700, so they survived," he said.
The bodies of the deceased were taken to the government hospital in Rajarajeshwari Nagar.