Hyderabad: A 22-year-old engineering student was killed and three others were injured when the car in which they were travelling rammed into a banyan tree by the roadside in Hayathnagar on Saturday midnight.

Roopa and her friend, brother and cousin were going to Vijayawada. Sources said driver Pradeep was drunk at the time of the incident.

K. Roopa Reddy, 22, was studying third year BTech at the TKR Engineering College. On Saturday evening, her brother-in-law Pradeep Reddy picked her and her brother Pavan Reddy in his car and came to B.N. Reddy Colony and picked up Roopa's friend Sowmya who is staying at the S.V. Women's Hostel.

Pradeep, 30, who is married and has two children, was driving the car and Roopa was sitting next to him. While passing through Abdullapurmet village limits, Pradeep tried to overtake a truck from the left, lost control and hit the huge banyan tree.

The left side of the car hit the tree and was completely damaged. All the four passengers suffered serious injuries and were rushed to hospital.

Roopa died in the hospital while the other three who suffered fractures are undergoing treatment. Their condition is said to be out of danger.

Police registered a case of accidental death and for inflicting injuries. Sources said that before the incident, Pradeep and Pavan got drunk at a toddy shop on the road. Sowmya who fractured both her legs revealed this to the police.

“We are checking whether he was drunk at the time of the incident. We will send his blood samples for analysis. Based on evidence, we will proceed,” Hayathnagar inspector J. Narender Goud said.

The body of Roopa was handed over to her family after post-mortem.