A photograph showing a minister from Telangana driving past the body of a road accident victim has gone viral on social media and has also drawn criticism from citizens.
The incident happened on Sunday afternoon at Nallakaluva crossroads in the Palampet village of Telangana's Jayashankar Bhupalapally district. A Tata Ace truck rammed into a motorcycle killing one of the three riders on the spot and injuring the other two. The truck sped away following the accident.
According to the Hindustan Times, a 30-year-old man named Taduri Madhusudhana Chary was on his way to Ramappa temple along with two of his friends --- Gopi and Sateesh --- when the accident took place. Chary died on the spot while the two friends who were pillion riding escaped with injuries.
Villagers residing in the area rushed to the spot and were looking for a vehicle to take the injured to hospital when they saw a convoy of cars belonging to Minister for Tribal Welfare Azmeera Chandulal driving past the spot.
"I am sure the minister, sitting in the front seat, must have noticed the body. It was quite inhuman on his part to ignore the accident victims," a youngster told HT.
"The village falls under his Mulugu assembly constituency and he should have stopped the convoy, got down from his vehicle and called on the injured, let alone making arrangements for shifting the body and the injured to the hospital. But, he had no such courtesy," the youngster added. He also managed to click the picture on his mobile phone and then posted it on a WhatsApp group.
The police reached the accident spot after the convoy left and completed the formalities.
"I was busy attending a call from my relatives when my convoy went past the accident spot. In the normal circumstances, I would have got down and called on the accident victims, but I was in a hurry then...It is not that I lack humanity. After all, they are my constituency people," Chandulal told HT, adding that he was on his way to Palampet village to meet one of his relatives who was in a critical condition.